The Story of Emmeline Avery: One of the Many Heroes of Hogwarts
by EUrban33
Summary: Emmeline Avery, granddaughter of a death eater, wants nothing to do with Voldemort. She will do anything she can to protect the ones she love and she makes some surprising friends along the way.
1. Year 1

Note: Sadly, I don't own anything of Harry Potter. Please enjoy!

** Year 1 **

Emmeline had been dreaming about this day for most of her life. But now that she was on Platform 9 3/4, she had to admit to herself that she was more than a little nervous. Growing up in the Avery Chateau had been much quieter than this; the platform was filled with people, animals, and of course the train, all making too much noise for her liking.

"Emmeline! You only have a few more minutes!" Yelled her mother, Estelle, over all of the ruckus. Estelle stood next to her brooding husband, Emmeline's father, Augustus. They were a strange couple, Mr. Avery was a dark, serious, mysterious man, while Mrs. Avery was beautiful and bright in more ways than one. "Give us final hugs and kisses, yes?"

Emmeline held tight to her parents, after all, she wouldn't see them until Christmas break.

"Good luck, my love. Keep in touch!" Her mother said. "And don't be worrying about which house you'll be placed into-"

Mr. Avery cut his wife off. "But try for Slytherin, at least."

Mrs. Avery gave him a withering look as the final whistle went off.

"Em! Come on!" Yelled Emmeline's friends out of an open train window. Getting one last kiss from her mother and father and grabbing the last of her luggage, she ran to get a seat in her friend's train car.

Emmeline stashed her belongings away and sat in between her two best friends, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Also in the car were Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabble, and Gregory Goyle. Her friends were not necessarily friends by choice, but more by her parent's connections. However, she did like all of them except for the latter two, as they were just too mean and too stupid for her liking.

"You better be placed in Slytherin with the rest of us, Emmy!" Pansy told her in a shrill tone. The only person who called her Emmy was Pansy, the girl tended to add "Y" sounds in the end of people's names. Emmeline wasn't sure she liked it.

Emmeline mumbled, "I'll try my best," as the others started conversing what sweets they would buy from the Trolley Witch. Looking out into the busy hallway, her mind traveled back to her parents and her father's message. She saw two tall red-haired boys, who must be twins, playing a prank on a colored girl around their age. Emmeline smiled at them as the girl screamed and laughed, they gave her a wink and trotted off, probably to pull another prank. Maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad, after all.

Her father wanted Emmeline to be in Slytherin, just as he was many years ago. Emmeline's mother, on the other hand, was sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts. Apparently, her parents had fallen madly in love in their last year of Hogwarts and got married right after graduation, but then Mr. Avery had gotten involved with You-Know-Who a little while later, just like his father. The Avery family was full of dark wizards, but Emmeline had made up her mind she would be more like her mother, who was part of the Ollivander family. Her mother helped make wands at the shop and her father owned a shop that she wasn't allowed to go into in Nocturne Alley. She couldn't see any sort of benefit to herself getting involved with these evil wizards. She glanced over at Draco, thinking of his family, a few of them in Azkaban for siding with You-Know-Who in the First Wizard War. Draco could be a right prat most of the time, _Merlin was he spoiled_, but she couldn't imagine him committing evil acts like his family.

Finally, the Trolley Witch came with her assortment of sweets, knocking Emmeline's dark thoughts aside. Draco, Crabble, and Goyle together almost bought out the whole cart. Emmeline managed to grab a few pumpkin pasties and chocolate frogs, though. Many students were still roaming the hallways, which seemed unusual since the train was chugging along at a nice speed and the Trolley Witch had come by. Two older boys stopped in front of their door.

"Oy, mate! They are saying Harry Potter is in the last train cart!" They yelled, continuing down the hallway.

"Harry Potter!" exclaimed Emmeline. The boy who lived himself, on his way to Hogwarts. She supposed that he would be automatically sorted into Gryffindor, the home of all the "bravest heroes".

"The last train cart, did he say?" Draco asked, with a glint in his eyes that Emmeline didn't like. "Crabble, Goyle, let's go say hello to him."

They slipped out of the compartment, Draco leading the way towards the back of the train. Emmeline sat there for a few minutes, and then decided to follow them, muttering something about the loo. She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach. As she approached the compartment, yelling was coming from the inside. Oh no. Emmeline rushed inside, grabbing Draco by the arm, and pulled him away from the two boys in the compartment. Crabble and Goyle followed. She gave a quick look back, hoping to convey that she was sorry to the boys inside, presumably Harry Potter and a Weasley, for Draco's trouble. As she pulled him by the sleeve of his robes down the corridor, she passed a girl with the biggest hair she had ever seen.

"Em! Let go of me! What was that all about?" Draco sneered.

"Draco, you are going to get yourself in trouble before we even get there! Come back to the compartment, we are almost to Hogwarts anyway." Draco followed her most unwillingly back to their seats, muttering about how Potter wouldn't shake his hand. _The disrespect, how ridiculous, he was Draco Bloody Malfoy..._

Emmeline talked to Blaise and Pansy for the rest of the ride, hoping she wouldn't have to stop Draco from getting into more trouble as the year went on.

Finally, the train pulled into the station. Emmeline left all her luggage, as told, and followed Pansy out of the train to the platform. The largest man she had ever seen was calling first years to him, holding a lantern above him, giving out a strong light. He had a tangle of hair on his head that matched an enormous beard. Harry Potter seemed to be friendly with him.

"Follow me!" The giant, named Hagrid, said.

Draco came over, placing his arm through hers as they walked, trying to make up for earlier. They always had little quarrels, but usually they blew over quickly. "Look at this big oaf," he whispered. "Where do they find people, well I shouldn't say person-" Emmeline giggled, trying to keep the peace with her friend.

As the turned the corner of the path, they could finally see the castle.

"Draco, it looks brilliant, doesn't it?" Emmeline said, gazing up at the magnificently lit castle. He nodded his head in agreement, the light reflecting in his stormy grey eyes. They walked down to the lake, Hagrid instructing them no more than four people to a boat. Draco helped Emmeline and Pansy into one before Blaise and he followed in. He could be a gentleman when he wanted to. Crabble and Goyle, due to their large size, got a boat to themselves.

With a "Forward!" from Hagrid, the boats were off, and the castle became closer and closer, it's light reflecting all around them on the dark lake.

"Pansy, don't lean that far over!" Draco teased. "The giant squid will swallow you whole!"

Pansy stuck her tongue out at him. Sometimes, only sometimes, he was a gentleman.

At last, the boats pulled up on the opposite shore. Emmeline was finally at her new home, Hogwarts.

The group of first year students were led into the castle. They went through marbled rooms and hallways with many decorations, all lit by lanterns. Hagrid handed them over to a "Professor McGonagall", who explained about the sorting ceremony and the four houses. She left them, all cuddled up together, for what felt like an eternity. It was nerve racking to say the least.

Emmeline was more nervous than she let on. She would be one of the first to be sorted, as her last name begun with an "A". She had no doubts in her mind that all of her friends would be put into Slytherin - but is that what she wanted? Would this benefit her? They certainly wanted her to be in Slytherin too, as well as her father. She thought of her lovely mother, imagining herself in Ravenclaw. Was she smart and creative enough? She was sure Draco and the others wouldn't be her friend anymore if she got sorted into Hufflepuff or Gryffindor...

But, a nagging voice in the back of her head reminded her, the sorting hat doesn't make the wrong decision. That's what her mother told her, before leaving for the train station. In addition to this, she told Emmeline about all of the wonderful people that had come from each house, and that it was up to each person to decide who they would be and how their actions would affect others. Emmeline made up her mind. No matter what house she was in, she wouldn't lose the things that her mother taught her: Kindness isn't weakness, but it can also be repaid, intelligence can only get you so far, bravery often gets you in trouble, and look out for those who look out for you.

Emmeline gasped as a few ghosts came in through one of the walls. She had never seen a ghost before, but she had heard about all the ones who haunted Hogwarts from her governess. As McGonagall came back and took them into the Great Hall, Emmeline saw even more ghosts floating around. Along with this, hundreds of candles levitated under the ceiling that was charmed to look like a night sky. She didn't know where to look, as everything was just so _magical_.

All of the students seemed to be staring in the direction of the first years, maybe trying to guess what houses they would be placed into. Emmeline could see up ahead the ratty-looking sorting hat sitting on a stool. The group was ushered right in front of it, just as the hat started its song. Emmeline was once again reminded of what each house was like. Lucky, she wasn't the first to go, because of a blond girl named Hannah Abbot. She was sorted into Hufflepuff, their table cheering and waving her over. Would she get the same warm welcome wherever she went?

Emmeline sat on the stool; the Sorting Hat dropped over her head, making the Great Hall disappear from her view.

_Ah, what do we have here? Emmeline Avery, the daughter of an Avery and an Ollivander. Interesting mix… _The hat whispered to her.

_I want to be put into Slytherin._ Emmeline thought.

_Oh, Slytherin? Interesting... You have so much potential in all of the houses... But no, not Gryffindor for you..._

Emmeline sat on the stool for what felt like forever. She couldn't hear much going on in the Hall, it must have gone quiet. The Sorting Hat went through each reason she could be in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin, but finally, it took her request into account.

"Slytherin!" It yelled, echoing in the hall. Emmeline slipped down from the stool, breathing a sigh of relief. There was polite clapping from the other houses, but the Slytherin table erupted into cheers and hollers, just like she was hoping. She caught Draco's eye on her way to the table, he gave her a wink and mouthed that he'd see her soon. She sat beside an older Slytherin girl, who gave her a small smile. A boy down the table transfigured her tie into the traditional Slytherin green and silver. She did feel like she was at home, especially when all her friends came and sat beside her. Draco and Pansy gave her hugs when they came, each taking a seat close to her.

Harry Potter, of course, had been sorted into Gryffindor, along with the red head Weasley boy he sat on the train with and the girl with the large amount of hair. When the twin boys shouted that "They got Potter!", Emmeline rolled her eyes.

All of a sudden, the feast appeared in front of them, more food than Emmeline had ever seen in her life, and that was saying something, since they went to the Malfoy's for Christmas Eve every year. As the boys pilled food onto their plates, Pansy and Emmeline put their napkins in their laps and set themselves up to eat in the usual manner.

Part of Emmeline's education before Hogwarts was in usual Pureblood fashion: How to eat, set a table, have tea, serve food, walk, converse, dance... How to live, really. But her mother had also taught her many things, more important than anything the governesses taught her, such as how not to be a rude, Pureblooded prat like some of her friends. _Cough, cough, Draco…_

After Emmeline thought she couldn't eat anymore, dessert appeared, and suddenly she had more room in her stomach. She was having a wonderful time talking with the other first years and many of the older students, who were telling her of so many things to look forward to: quidditch matches, fun classes, and eventually, Hogsmeade visits and balls.

During dinner, Emmeline looked up at the front table. Dumbledore seemed like an unusual character, but her mother told her he was a brilliant man. Down the table was a familiar face, Uncle Sev- Well, Professor Snape now. Severus Snape was one of her father's closest friends. He was a harsh man, but he taught her some potion tricks and always got her a nice Christmas gift. Her mother said that long ago in school he got his heart broken and he never recovered. Emmeline felt bad for him, at least.

The followed their prefect out of the hall after dessert had disappeared. She wasn't sure how Draco and the rest of the boys weren't getting sick as they traveled down to the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons. The dungeons were kind of dark, but torches lit the way enough. Emmeline could see lots of small alcoves in various hallways, she even spotted a couple trying to get a few minutes of alone time before curfew started. She blushed and looked away... Would she ever find love like that?

They entered the common room after their prefect said the password "Dragon hide". It was dark like the hallways, but a warm fire roared and a soft, green light came in through the windows from the lake. As the prefect was taking girls three at a time to their rooms, Emmeline went over the window seats and gazed out into the deep parts of the lake. She could see the flashing of scales in the distance, but nothing was very close to the window besides some plants.

The prefect came back, rounding up Emmeline, Pansy, and another girl named Daphne Greengrass. Emmeline had met her before at Draco's house, but hadn't had too much interaction with her. Their room was right at the beginning of the hallway, and going inside, Emmeline was pleasantly surprised with the size. A large, four poster bed bearing Slytherin colors was her favorite part. Around the bed were trunks and dressers for storage, as well as a beautiful vanity. The soft, green light also came from small windows hidden around the room.

The girls were all exhausted, not saying anything as they got ready for bed. Emmeline sat down at the vanity to brush her hair. Bangs were in at the moment, both Pansy and Daphne had them as well, but they kept their hair generally short. Emmeline's hair hit around her shoulder blades, flowing down in big, black waves. Her mother always enjoyed putting it in complex curls and plaits for special occasions.

Emmeline looked in the mirror one last time. Her skin was fairly pale, giving her a striking look against her black hair. She applied a moisturizing potion to her skin, which smelled nicely of lavender. Her eyes were a light green, with a few specs of gold in them, as some magical folk have. She closed them as she got in bed, falling asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.

The next day, Emmeline got dressed, conversing with the other girls about their classes. This week she had transfiguration, charms, herbology, history of magic, astronomy, defense against the dark arts, and potions.

Transfiguration was the hardest for her, but no one had much luck turning the hay to a needle, besides herself, who at least got it a little silver. McGonagall gave her a small smile, making Emmeline grin. The powerful witch scared her, and it was nice to see she could smile.

History was very boring, as a ghost taught it. Emmeline wasn't even sure if he was getting his facts right. She got some extra sleep this period. Also, Herbology wasn't her favorite. It was taught by a nice, dumpy, older lady, named Professor Sprout. Emmeline had the appreciation for all of the things they were growing, since they were useful in potion making, but it wasn't that fun to fertilize the plants with magical creature dung.

Friday morning consisted of double potions with the Gryffindors. She was partnered with Draco, which was great since he was also taught a few things about potions before this by Uncle Sev. Snape started to pick on Harry Potter right away, and the girl with the big, big hair, Hermione Granger, was dying to answer any question he asked. Draco, Crabble, and Goyle couldn't keep a control on their giggles. Emmeline rolled her eyes. _Of course they couldn't get along, _Emmaline thought_._

Once the class started their potions, Snape was generous with his complements to both Emmeline and Draco. Yet, he continued to pick on Harry throughout the class. All of a sudden, someone yelled "Watch out!" Neville had destroyed Seamus's cauldron and their potion was leaking all over the floor, burning holes in people's shoes. In the panic, Emmeline knocked over her stool. Most people we're climbing on theirs to get away from the potion, like Draco next to her. She jumped up onto him to get away, her shoes were way too cute to be ruined.

"Ow, Em!" Draco moaned as she elbowed him a few times getting up.

"Sorry!" He had to put an arm around her, so she didn't fall off of the too small stool. Emmeline blushed; she hadn't been this close to him ever, really.

"Someone take Longbottom to the nurse! Now!" Snape snapped. Emmeline glanced over; Neville was covered in boils. Seamus led him out, careful to avoid the puddles of potion. "Class dismissed! Potter, another point for not telling Neville what to do."

Potter looked angry, Ron Weasley putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Snape glanced over in Emmeline's direction, giving her and Draco a smirk about their position. Face burning, Emmeline slipped off the stool to a dry spot on the floor, grabbed her bag, and followed Pansy and Daphne out quickly.

The next class they had with the Gryffindors didn't go any better - flying lessons. That Neville, he couldn't do anything right. Malfoy, Crabble, Goyle, and many of the other Slytherins had laughed through the whole flying ordeal, but Emmeline wrung her hands with worry when Draco went up on the broom. It was just last year he had broken his elbow trying to show off in front of her. They boys flew around, Potter looked fantastic on his dive, but was dragged off by McGonagall soon after. Who knows what would happen to him? All Emmeline wanted was a nice girl's night, no more boys causing trouble.

"Ladies! Let's have a girl's night in!" Emmeline announced coming into her room after dinner. Pansy squealed.

"I have just the thing to put on your face, Emmeline, it's great for dry skin... And Daphne..." Pansy trailed off, digging through her trunk, while the two other girls got changed into their bath robes. Once they were ready, they hurried down the hall to the bathroom. Emmeline looked quick into the common room. Draco, Crabble, and Goyle were gathered in front of the fireplace, giggling to themselves.

Gratefully, the bathroom was empty when they entered. While filling up the bath, Pansy set out all of her beauty products and started applying the ones that could be used during the bath. Emmeline had a gold leaf face mask on and a creamy, leave-in hair potion. Pansy gave Daphne a charcoal mask for her face. Pansy used so many products on herself that Emmeline lost track. They stripped and got in the bath, Emmeline relaxing in the warm water.

"Emmy, you never want to do this!" Pansy said.

"I just wanted to relax tonight, I guess. It's been a long week." She responded, thinking over all of the crazy things that had happened.

"I agree. Can you believe that Longbottom kid? How did he get into this school in the first place? Hogwarts is supposed to be the best," Daphne said, with her nose turn up. Emmeline knew the girl was trying to act cool, but it was hard to take her seriously with the mask all over her face.

"I think it is the best, we've learned so much already. Besides in history, but oh well," Emmeline responded, slipping as far down into the warm, bubbly water as possible.

Daphne and Pansy started gossiping about recent fashion disasters at the school. Emmeline took one of Pansy's soaps and washed herself, feeling very refreshed. The other girls finished washing up as well, and Emmeline went to back to the room first, slipping past the common room again. Draco was still there, lounging on one of the couches, giving her a wink as she passed in her robe.

Soon she was in bed, sleeping well and smelling even better.

Just like the first week, the following weeks went by like the blink of an eye. Suddenly, it was Halloween. The whole castle smelled like pumpkin, one of Emmeline's favorite scents, and it was decorated beautifully for the holiday. After classes, Emmeline and her friends were on their way up to the feast when Emmeline heard crying coming from the bathroom.

"Oh, I need to use the loo, don't wait up for me!" Emmeline lied, her friends scarcely acknowledging her, sweets on their minds.

Emmeline walked inside, following the sounds of crying to the last stall. It was partially open.

"Hello?" She said, opening the door. Inside was the giant mass of hair which belonged to the one and only Hermione Granger.

The witch looked up, seeing Emmeline's uniform replied, "Oh, it's one of you. Go away!"

Emmeline thought about it, but she remembered something her mother used to say. "But my mother said you should never cry alone." She got down on the floor with the other girl, placing a carful hand on her shoulder. "My name is Emmeline, Emmeline Avery."

Emmeline gave the weeping girl a handkerchief, which she took gratefully and dabbed at her eyes with. "I'm Hermione Granger, and I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before, you are the nice Slytherin. You told that Hufflepuff girl to ignore those mean Ravenclaw boys the other day."

Emmeline went slightly pink. She didn't think anyone would notice. "Is that what people call me?" Hermione nodded, still cleaning herself up. "Oh. And you are the only Gryffindor who has two brain cells."

Hermione's head snapped up. "You know what brain cells are?" She gave a little laugh as well.

"Oh, my mother taught me some things, she had many muggle friends in school-"

Suddenly there was a huge _BANG!_ The girls immediately went quiet, holding tight on to each other. A horrible smell penetrated the room. Emmeline, ever so quietly and carefully, peaked out a crack in the stall. A giant, grey troll was smashing sinks not that far from them. Emmeline turned to Hermione, the girl's wide eyes matching her own. _Troll,_ Emmeline mouthed.

The troll started smashing the stalls next, one by one. Emmeline could see it's giant, disgusting feet moving closer and closer...

"We have to move, now." Emmeline said, pushing the other girl under the stall. They ran to the back wall, but then there was nowhere to go. The troll was between them and the door.

But out of the door came the boy who lived and his side kick. The Weasley boy levitated the troll's club high above it, and then let it go, knocking the troll out. Emmeline was in shock.

"Are you two alright?" Harry asked. The girls could only nod. Then the teachers came, McGonagall dealing with the others. Snape whisked her away, stating she must have been in the bathroom before the ogre came.

"Little Avery, are you harmed?" He asked, leading her towards the dungeons.

"No, Uncle Sev. I'm fine." She wasn't totally fine, but just wanted to go back to the common room at this point.

"Why were you with that filthy Muggle girl?" Emmeline wrinkled her nose. She did not understand her uncle's unfavorable views of muggle borns.

"I was just in the bathroom," she lied, "nothing more." She turned and went back to the dorm, finding the feast had been brought to the common room. Her friends came rushing over as she walked in, all asking if she was okay. She recapped the story, leaving out the part about consoling Hermione. The tops of Draco's ears turned red when she mentioned Potter and Weasley rescuing them.

"I could have easily taken the beast down," Malfoy boasted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Of course, you could'of," Emmeline replied kindly, stuffing her mouth with anything pumpkin in sight, hoping to distract herself from what just happened. She was glad her friends were around her, being much kinder than usual to make her feel better.

Right around the corner was the first Quidditch game of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Emmeline was excited, but Draco was pouting the whole time, muttering about Potter being special...

"Drakey, I think you've caught the love bug for Potter, you haven't shut up about 'im all week!" Pansy teased. Emmeline and their friends giggled. Draco had the case of red ears again.

Emmeline sat in the Slytherin section, sandwiched between Pansy and Daphne to keep warm. Her mother had sent her a beautiful, and warm, Slytherin scarf, just for the occasion. The boys sat behind them, along with a new addition to their group, Theodore Nott.

"Do you think that Crabble and Goyle can understand the rules?" Daphne whispered to Emmeline. Emmeline was full of giggles today.

The match started, Slytherin was not playing well. Emmeline spent most of the match with her face in her hands, either from embarrassment, shame, or fear.

At last, Potter caught the snitch, in his mouth none the less. Did everything he do have to be over the top?

Draco leaned down to her at the end, mad at the results, and said "Just wait until we start playing, Em, then we won't lose a match, I bet!"

A few days later was Emmeline's 12th birthday. She wasn't expecting anything too special, but as soon as she awoke, she found a piece of cake on her dresser with a note on it from Pansy and Daphne.

_Meet us in the common room - P D_

Emmeline got ready for the day, partially plaiting her hair for the occasion, and left the room with the plate of cake. She walked into the common room, seeing her friends gathered round with the rest of the cake. They started to sing "Happy Birthday". Emmeline was thrilled, though she hoped they weren't planning on joining the frog choir anytime soon.

Her friends had gotten her lots of candy, which she started opening and sharing on the way to breakfast.

Even her classes were good, and homework light for the day. That night, they played a few wizard games, like exploding snap, in front of the fire until it was very late. Emmeline went to bed happy.

Finally, it was Christmas. Emmeline went home for the holiday, so excited to see her parents. She arrived on the front step, apparated there by their house elf, Nissy.

"Thank you, Nissy!" Emmeline said, looking at the loyal elf. She had served her family ever since Emmeline was a little girl.

"Yes, young master!" Nissy replied with a little bow. As the door opened, there was a _pop!_ and Nissy was gone.

"My darling!" Emmeline's mother engulfed her in a huge hug. Emmeline smiled into her mother's chest. She had missed her mother so much. They wrote to each other as much as possible, but it wasn't the same.

Emmeline's father came up from behind her mother, swooping down to give Emmeline a kiss on the cheek. They all went inside, sipping on tea, Emmeline telling them about all of the friends she made and things she learned. That night, the family had a delicious dinner and dessert, after they gathered around the fire, her mother reading a book, and Emmeline and her father playing a game of wizard chess.

The next day, Emmeline and her mother traveled to Diagon Alley.

"What is the theme this year?" Emmeline asked her mother. On Christmas Eve every year, the Malfoy's hosted a ball for all of their friends and business associates. It always was one of the highlights of Emmeline's year.

"Narcissa told me it would be a silver and white winter wonderland. I was thinking silver dresses for us, and a white suit with silver details for your father. What do you think?"

"I think we will be the best-looking family there!" Emmeline exclaimed. Her mother laughed, leading her into the dress shop.

They ended up buying two beautiful gowns, making many other shoppers jealous. One other customer, who Emmeline recognized as one of the Malfoy's friends, even threw her gown on the floor in anger.

Next was Christmas shopping. "I need to get gifts for you, father, Pansy, Daphne, Draco, and Blaise. But I do I think I know what to get all of them, except maybe Draco." Emmeline explained as they walked out of the shop, bags in hand.

"How has Draco been, my love?" Her mother inquired.

"Very jealous of Potter lately. You know how he can't stand when people show him up. And those other two boys, Crabble and Goyle, they are just so mean. I think they make him worse than he actually is," Emmeline replied with a frown.

"Well why don't you get him something for Christmas to remind him of what he is really like?" Her mother suggested. Emmeline racked her brain for a gift.

"I will have to look around some shops, I think." Her mother nodded in agreement.

Their first stop was at the cosmetics store for Pansy and Daphne. Emmeline got them each a bottle of mood changing nail polish, a magic manicure/pedicure set, and hair clips.

Then, at the men's clothing store, she got Blaise a new pair of black leather boots for the cold and her father a new pair of cufflinks. While her mother went off into another store to get Emmeline her gift, the girl ran into the magical art store. Her mother was very creative, and Emmeline hoped that some new paints would be a lovely gift. Emmeline and her mother met back up at a little café for a light lunch.

Finally, Emmeline needed a gift for Draco. She decided to go into the knickknacks shop, which tended to have random, but nice things. She strolled through shelf after shelf, until a glint of something caught her eye. Sitting there was a pin of a silver bird.

Emmeline remembered a time when her and Draco were playing in his back yard. They were playing in the grass under some trees, when a small, baby bird had fallen out of the nest, trying to fly. Draco helped it up, slowly, giving it a boost to fly. Up and away it went. He clapped as the bird returned, delighted he could help it. He did care about things more than he let on, and Emmeline thought that this gift would remind him of that day.

She knew a lot of things had changed since then. While her mother didn't allow her to have anything to do with dark magic, Draco's father was already preparing him to follow in his footsteps. But Emmeline knew, deep down, even though he was a right prat most of the time, he wasn't evil.

They apparated home, Emmeline holding tight to Draco's gift.

Christmas Eve night, Pansy and Daphne insisted on coming over to help Emmeline get ready. Her mother did most of her hair, putting it into complex plaits, but let the girls add the sparkly sliver pins for decoration. Pansy even gave Emmeline some red lip gloss to compliment her pale tone. All the ladies got dressed, her friends _ooing_ and _ahhing_ at her mother's sparkly gown.

"Alright, you have about half an hour before we have to go, don't get dirty! Your mothers will _avada_ me," Emmeline's mother joked, slipping out the door of Emmeline's room.

"Let's exchange gifts!" Emmeline proposed. The other girls squealed, gathering up their presents, dresses flowing around them. Pansy's dress was short and puffy, but very sparkly, which was a style she always wore. Daphne's dress, on the other hand, was long and sleek, a silver-grey color. Emmeline thought they looked great.

"Open mine first, Em!" Daphne exclaimed. Emmeline carefully took off the wrapping paper and opened the box to find beautiful green wool. "I thought you could maybe make some gloves to go with your scarf." Daphne explained. Also, in the box was a charmed hair brush, so she didn't have to do all that brushing herself, and a cuff earing. Emmeline gave the other girl a hug, it was a great gift.

From Pansy, Emmeline got a new pair of black heels with little bows on the front and a heavy, very warm Slytherin jacket. "I guess these new jackets are very in right now with Muggles."

Emmeline's jaw dropped. "Pansy, you got me muggle clothes?"

"Oh, I hope you don't mind. The wizard fashion was starting to bore me, so I ordered some muggle fashion magazines. Much more interesting. They were confused about the owl though." Emmeline gave Pansy a hug as well, utterly shocked.

The girls chatted for a bit longer about who they hoped would come to the party, and who they hoped wouldn't, until Nissy came calling for them. All holding hands, they apparated with Emmeline's parents to the party.

They arrived in the vestibule, Emmeline noticed with a grimace that several guests had arrived through the floo, getting ashes all over their dress robes.

Many house elves were roaming around helping guests. One Emmeline had never seen before took her coat and purse to hang up. Emmeline did hold onto her presents for Draco and Blaise, however. Her mother and father left first, greeting people as they went towards the ballroom. Emmeline noticed many more jealous glances at her mother in that dress. She did look beautiful. Emmeline hoped that she would look like that someday.

The girls also made their way to the ballroom. It was a silver wonderland indeed; Mrs. Malfoy had outdone herself this year with the decorations. Snow was falling lightly from the ceiling, but it stopped just above everyone's heads. Ice statues and silver ribbons adorned the whole room. The tables, dance floor, and even chandelier were all also made out of ice. They made their way over to some tables first, piled high with food. Each taking a few desserts, they went to find their friends.

Draco and Blaise were over on the other side of the ball room, sampling desserts from a chocolate fountain. Pansy had to wipe a bit of chocolate from the corner of Draco's mouth. Blaise gave Emmeline a hug as greeting and then presented her with a lovely wrapped gift, as Draco was being lectured to by Pansy. Emmeline gave his present to him as well. Opening the box, she found a beautiful smelling perfume.

"Thank you, Blaise, this is lovely," she said with a smile.

"And yours as well, I wish I could put these on now. My mother wouldn't let me put a comforting charm on these, she says it ruins the look." Blaise said, pointing to this Italian leather dress shoes.

Emmeline giggled. "I bet my mother could do it for you."

Draco finally escaped Pansy's clutches, the girl and Daphne had gone off to one of the many powder rooms. He presented Emmeline with her gift, not wrapped as nicely as Blaise's.

"Did the undead get to that, Drake?" Blaise chuckled.

"Very funny," he responded, as Emmeline tore off the paper. Blaise left to go say hello to their new friend Theodore Nott. Inside the box was a beautiful charm bracelet.

"Oh, they move!" Emmeline exclaimed. There were only two charms on it yet, but Emmeline could imagine getting more later. The first was a snake that slithered around its round charm, and the second an A for Avery, which had the sunset inside, which was slowly going down.

"It doubles as a time teller, soon the A will have stars in it." Draco explained. Emmeline thanked him profusely, handing him the small box and slipping on her new bracelet. It fit perfectly, charmed to do so. Draco froze when his box was open, staring inside.

Emmeline took it out, pinning the bird to his lapel. "I know you can be kind, Draco. I wish you would be that way more often." He didn't say anything but left the pin on for the whole night.

Overall, it was a great party. Emmeline danced with each of her friends a few times, as well as some older boys that she felt Mrs. Malfoy was trying to set her up with. She was much too young to date, however. Besides this, Emmeline spent lots of time with her parents, her father a little more friendly than usual thanks to the fire whisky. Emmeline looked over at them one point in the night, her father had his hand low on her mother's bare back while they were conversing with another couple. She also ate way more desserts than she should have.

Finally, the party thinned out, early in the morning hours. Emmeline made her way up to her room in the Malfoy house with Pansy and Daphne. Mrs. Malfoy had watched Emmeline many times when she was younger when her parents were traveling, and she finally decided one day that Emmeline should just have a room of her own. The bed inside was huge, the girls changed into their night gowns, brushed out their hair, and fit into the bed without disturbing one another. Emmeline was exhausted, and was soon dreaming of Christmas morning.

Daphne left when she woke up for her family's Christmas, but Pansy and Emmeline got dressed and headed downstairs for their traditional Malfoy Christmas breakfast. Emmeline had been sure to put on her beautiful new bracelet. They met Draco on the way down, his room being down the hall from Emmeline's.

Again, a great feast was laid out before them. Emmeline wasn't sure her stomach could take much more. In attendance was her family, Pansy and her mother, Blaise, his mother, and his mother's new husband, Uncle Severus, and of course, the Malfoy's. Emmeline was seated in between Mr. Malfoy and her mother.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Malfoy," Emmeline said as she folded her napkin on her lap.

"And to you, Miss Avery. What did you ask for this year?" The Malfoy patriarch looked rather old these days, leaning heavily on his cane. He was able to have the opening dance with his wife last night, though.

"A few books, a warmer winter hat... Nothing too exciting." She replied, putting some sausages on her plate.

"Well it seems as if you got a few more things than that, my dear." Lucius pointed at a pile of gifts under the twenty-foot-tall tree, all labeled: To Emmeline. She was excited to see what her parents got her; she really didn't ask for much.

After the delicious breakfast, all the children opened their gifts. Draco always had the most. Emmeline ended up getting tons of jewelry from her parents, along with some nice and warm clothing for Hogwarts, a few good books, and several other small gifts. The Malfoy's got her a new set of self-inking quills. Overall, it was a fantastic Christmas.

A little while later, Emmeline was back at Hogwarts. Over the next few months, more quidditch games were played and classes had started to become harder. Emmeline often went to the library to study, usually by herself, as most of her friends didn't bother to study until last minute. She started to see Hermione more and more.

The girl was happier since she became friends with Harry and Ron, ever since that fateful day in the bathroom with the troll. They also came to the library with her a lot, Emmeline imagined the girl had to pull them there by their ears to get them there.

One particular day, Hermione was studying from her potions book when she suddenly put her head down in defeat. Emmeline and the girl usually shared a smile when they saw each other, but nothing more. Gathering up what little courage she had, Emmeline moved to Hermione's table.

"Hermione?" Emmeline asked lightly. The girls head snapped up. "I'm not sure if you remember me, I'm Emmeline. Do you need some help? I'm not too bad at potions."

The girl sat still for a moment, looking at Emmeline. Finally, she responded. "Of course! I'm sorry, I'm just not used to receiving help, usually I'm the one giving it..."

Emmeline giggled. "I'm sure, it seems like those boys need all the help they can get. What's troubling you?"

Hermione explained that she was getting confused by the steps of a potion, Strengthening Solution.

"Oh! You see, the colors you get should be in reverse rainbow order..." The girls trailed on, Emmeline helping Hermione understand some complex potion topics that she was sure they wouldn't need for the exam. Hermione also helped Emmeline massively, a wand movement she was having trouble with was now second nature.

"I think we should study together more often!" Hermione exclaimed, receiving a "Shh!" from Madam Pince.

Emmeline was surprised. "You would want to be seen studying with me? A Slytherin?" Several other students had been giving Emmeline strange looks. It wasn't as if Emmeline was a normal, mean Slytherin, but she did keep them as company most of the time. It was all she knew.

"Oh, anyone who judges can bugger off," Hermione replied with a smile. Emmeline knew that many people wouldn't talk to the girl since they had lost a lot of house points for Gryffindor. Maybe she was just hoping for more people to talk to.

Emmeline stacked her things together to put them in her bag, she accidently knocked over some of Hermione's papers. She gathered them up off the floor, seeing one paper with the question _Nicholas Flamel?_

"You want to know who Flamel is? He's on Dumbledore's chocolate frog card, I believe." Emmeline was sure she had seen his name on one of the cards Draco threw out of this chocolate boxes. Hermione gasped, and saying thanks, she ran out of the library, getting a mean look from Pince again.

"Alright then, see you next time," Emmeline picked up her things, walking down to the dungeons, giggling at the other girl. She must have figured out something important.

Despite her previous doubts, she was happy to have made a new friend. Even if Hermione was a little strange. That was okay, Emmeline was strange too.

At last, exams rolled around. Slytherin was in the lead for the house cup! Many of her other house mates were strutting around the school, being cocky about being in the lead, but Emmeline had a bad feeling. She ignored it to concentrate on her exams and by the time they took their last one, history of magic, Emmeline felt great. She felt her exams had gone well and outside the sun was shining.

Emmeline spent the week off spending time with her Slytherin friends outside. Blaise and Pansy were trying to teach her how to tan, to no avail. Her skin tone wouldn't budge.

She saw her Uncle Severus less than usual; he was in a worse mood than usual. Was grading exams that stressful?

And then the news came that Harry Potter had saved the castle, defeating evil once more. Rumors spread around the castle like wildfire about what happened, she was sure nowhere near true. Eventually, she saw Hermione in an empty hall one day, who recapped most of the story to her.

"Without your hint, we would have never figured out what happened!" Hermione said, pulling Emmeline into an embrace. She was so glad to have Hermione as her new friend.

A day later, Emmeline entered the great Hall, decorated in Slytherin green and silver for winning the house cup. Draco was thrilled. Emmeline noticed he put the pin she got him on his school bag. She didn't think it made him any kinder though, especially when he got in that fight with Ron Weasley.

And then Professor Dumbledore awarded some last-minute house points, and Gryffindor won the house cup. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were happy, they believed Slytherin had the cup for too long. Emmeline was sad to see her friends upset, but really, they did deserve the points.

All the first years, soon to be second years, took the boats back across the lake. They hopped on the train, and once again Emmeline was reunited with her parents. It was time for summer.

**_**


	2. Year 2

** Year 2 **

Emmeline boarded the train going to Hogwarts for her second year. She hoped a few things for this year. Number one: Draco would stop being such a right prat, number two: Harry Potter would stop a lot of his dramatics that made Draco behave so badly, and number three: that she would make a few new friends. The first two hopes were dashed down the pipes fairly quickly. As Emmeline found her friends' cart, Draco was already talking about Potter. She had seen Draco a lot over the summer, and Harry Potter was the only person he wanted to talk about. This was much to Pansy's disappointment, as she had caught the love bug for "Drakey". Emmeline didn't like this, she thought it might ruin their friendship. Nevertheless, she let the girl talk about Draco to her all summer. Pansy was also trying to set her up with various boys, much to Emmeline's dislike. She was 12, boys could wait.

Getting sick of her friends, Emmeline decided to take a walk through the train. Pocketing her wand, just in case, she slipped out of the door. A few carts down, Emmeline found the older Weasley twins in a middle of a prank. Besides Emmeline and them, the hallway was empty. Looking up, brief worry flashed over their eyes.

"Just a bit of fun-" one started.

"No one would get hurt." The other finished.

"But then again, you might like that," the first one whispered just a little too loud, eyeing Emmeline's green and silver robes. She felt a pang in her chest.

She made a decision quickly. "No problem, is there any way I can help?" The twins looked at each other.

"Well-"

"Actually..." The twins went on to explain the trip wire they were hanging was a little too visible, and could Emmeline change the color to blend in with the carpet? They had forgotten their wands back in their compartment. With a few waves of her wand, she couldn't tell where the wire started, and the carpet stopped. The twins helped her over the wire, they knew where it was, the three of them hid in an empty compartment.

"What happens when someone trips over it?" Emmeline inquired to the boys.

"You'll see it-"

"And probably smell it too!" The twins laughed, making Emmeline smile.

"Oh, look George, they can smile!" Fred teased.

"I see, Fred, bit of a shocker. What's your name?" Emmeline was sure they referred to each other as a sort of greeting to her.

Emmeline bit her lip, but they were looking at her expectantly. "I'm Emmeline Avery, I'm in the same year as your brother, Ron."

"And don't you usually hang out with Malfoy?" George asked.

"Er- Yes."

"Well you seem pleasant, why would you do that?" Fred replied.

Emmeline touched her bracelet. "Well, he's my friend." It was a lame answer, and they knew it. But before they could say anything else, none other than Crabble and Goyle came down the hallway, most likely looking for first years to torment. One minute they were stomping towards the next car, and then next they were on the floor, tripped up on the wire, and surrounded by a cloud of brown smoke. Emmeline, sure it was a dung bomb from the little bit of smell escaping into their apartment, laughed at the two coughing and sputtering outside their door. She had to wipe a tear from her eye.

"Look, they can laugh at good stuff too!" Fred smiled.

"I am surprised," George stated. "Well, Emmeline Avery, we won't be able to leave the compartment for a bit, until the hallway is cleared out. If you liked this prank, we have plenty more stories, even better than that."

Emmeline nodded her head, eager for more laughs. She thought briefly back to Mr. Malfoy in the bookstore this summer, and the twin's father starting fisticuffs with him. While it was never right to hurt anyone, and the Malfoy's had been very good to her over the years, she had to admit that she liked the Weasley family very much. She was so sick of Mr. Malfoy talking about muggles and muggle borns so badly - How could you judge someone just on how they were born? And Draco seemed to think the same things more and more every day.

Sitting in the compartment, Emmeline realized that even if her first two hopes were rubbish, maybe the third one would become true.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley crashed their flying car into the Whomping Willow during the sorting ceremony. Wish number two, down the loo. But otherwise, the welcome back feast was splendid. She caught up with Daphne, who she had only seen a few times over the summer and ate to her hearts content. Emmeline also snuck a smile at Hermione, which the girl returned, but Emmeline could tell she was worried about her friends.

Another Weasley, a little girl, was sorted into Gryffindor. Her brothers were pleased. Draco made a nasty comment about her family, and while some of her other friends laughed, especially Pansy, but Emmeline ignored him, thinking fondly to her time on the train with the two Weasley twins.

Draco had started being even louder about his dislike of Harry Potter. He tried to humiliate him in the courtyard, making a group of 5th years laugh. Emmeline decided to spend more time with Daphne and Blaise.

She sat between the two in Defense against the dark arts, wondering if they were going to learn more with this good-looking wizard than with Professor Quirrell, who in the end turned out to be Voldemort. Good times.

They started the class with a quiz- About Lockhart. Reading over the questions, Emmeline could get a few correct from glancing, just glancing really, through his books. But could anyone _that pretty_ do all of this amazing stuff? It was hard to be pretty and talented. Emmeline wondered.

The next day Draco broke the news to her that he would be Slytherin's new seeker. His father had bought the team all new brooms.

"So, he bought your way in?" Emmeline replied hotly. The ends of Draco's ears turned pink.

"Of course not! They wanted me. And they aren't fond of girls, anyway, so don't worry about trying out." He replied, turning away and leaving the dorms. Emmeline was furious. How dare he talk to her like that? Well, she wouldn't talk to him at all then.

One night, Emmeline was having a normal dinner. She had taken to reading sometimes during dinner, it was easier this way to ignore Draco. He was more pompous than usual, talking to everyone else loudly to ignore her. The good news is that her grades were fantastic from all her reading.

After dinner, she left with the rest of the students in Great Hall. Walking down the corridor, she spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione up ahead... And what looked like a dead Mrs. Norris with the words "_The chamber of secrets has opened. Muggles beware_" written below in what could only be blood. She gasped, grabbing for Daphne's hand. The whole school was in shock, and screams, gasps, and whispers filling the corridor.

She could hear Draco behind her laughing, talking about "Mudbloods". She was furious, people were in danger! When the corridor had finally cleared out and they were headed back down to the dungeons, she accidently stepped on the back of his robes, making him trip up. It seemed like there would be no quiet, normal year at Hogwarts.

The first Quidditch game of the year was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Emmeline decided that she couldn't root for her own house because of Draco - she wore simple black robes to the match. Daphne wasn't one for Quidditch anyway, so the girls talked to themselves for most of the match. She was pleased to see that even though the snitch was flying literally next to Draco, Harry Potter grabbed it and won the game for Gryffindor. Pansy moaned about _poor Draco._ Emmeline knew he was being too smug, and it had cost Slytherin the match.

Walking back to the school, Emmeline realized she had lost an earring sometime during the match. Telling Daphne and Blaise that she would catch up with them, Emmeline went back to the stadium to search. Luckily, she had worn a larger pair of earrings to the game with model golden snitches on the end. She found it without too much trouble.

"See Drake, it's not that hard!" She whispered to herself. Emmeline went down and out of the stadium, passing by the locker rooms. Inside, she heard yelling. Keeping quiet so she could listen in.

The person yelling was Markus Flint, the Slytherin captain. "Malfoy, the snitch was flying on your head, and you let Potter get it! You are lucky your father got us these brooms..." Emmeline didn't hear whatever else he said, he had gone to a regular volume. Hearing footsteps, Emmeline hid behind one of the many pillars that held the stadium up. Markus Flint stormed out of the locker room, muttering under his breath. She heard more steps, Draco coming out, wiping his eyes. Emmeline hasn't seen him cry in a long time...

She waited a minute and then started back up to the school, Draco ahead of her and not realizing she was behind him. Emmeline reminded herself that they were only twelve and thirteen years old.

Entering the school, Draco had paused to gather himself. Emmeline came up behind him, startling him slightly. Realizing it was her, he was relieved, but turned away, knowing that she was ignoring him. But she had something to say to him.

"Draco, meet me in the common room after dinner. I think we have a few things to talk about." He nodded and left, disappearing around the corner. Emmeline had always been there for him when things were hard with his father and she knew that not talking to him was making things much harder on him. She thought maybe, just maybe, by reminding him that she would be there for him, for most things, he would feel better.

During dinner, Emmeline could feel Draco looking at her every few minutes. They were very close before this argument, and it was hurting her to ignore him for so long. She kept her nose in a book to not look at him, just yet.

After dinner, she went back to her room to drop off her bag and get changed out of her robes. She had gotten some dirt on them on the way back up to the school from the stadium. She headed out the door, but then turned back to brush her hair out of its plait. Finally, she left the room.

Emmeline found a seat next to the window looking out into the lake. A few small fish were swimming by, their scales flashing from the light inside the room. Draco's reflection appeared in the glass. She was more nervous than she had been in a while. When they were younger, they would have little rifts, but nothing as long as this.

Draco sat down across from her, looking at her expectantly. "Er- hello," he mumbled.

At first, she wasn't sure what to say, but then the words seemed to fall out of her mouth. She talked quietly since other people were in the room. "Draco, I know you have a lot on your shoulders with all the things your father expects from you."

Draco tensed up. Mrs. Avery had told Emmeline through a letter last week that Mr. Malfoy was putting more pressure on Draco to follow in his footsteps. Emmeline wasn't exactly sure what Mr. Malfoy did for a living, but she knew that he dealt with many evil wizards and used a lot of dark magic himself. It ran in their family, and it did in hers too, but Emmeline wouldn't be dragged into it because of her mother. She hoped the dark magic in her family would die with her father, and in the Malfoy family, with Draco.

She continued. "I know that he is set in his ways about how things should be here at Hogwarts and he wants you to have these views too, but you don't have to. I don't! And I'm a Pureblooded just like you. I've become friends with so many other people, and we've had so much fun together-"

To her surprise, his face twisted with disgust. "So, what, you would fraternize with the Mudbloods? Soil yourself with them?"

Emmeline was taken aback. Soil herself...? She slapped Draco across the face, realizing what he meant. She quickly stood up.

"I thought you were different than this, Draco. Better than your father. I'd much rather associate with muggle borns than you! And now you've lost a friend because of this... You lost me." His face was blank, except for a red mark on his cheek from her blow. She turned away, trying not to cry until she entered her room. She made it to her bed, the tears flowing freely now. The two other girls got up, going to her, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Who do I need to hex!?" Pansy barked. Emmeline shook her head. The other girls sat with her until her crying stopped. That night, Emmeline fell asleep right away out of exhaustion, dreaming about earlier, better days.

A student had been attacked, like Mrs. Norris. His name was Colin Creavey, a Gryffindor. People all around the school were scared.

Christmas was right around the corner, the only bright spot for Emmeline. After she had written to her parents about the events at school, they had replied that over the break, they would be traveling to get away and get her mind of everything. There would be no Malfoy Christmas party this year, the Malfoy's would also be traveling, but Draco was staying at Hogwarts. Emmeline didn't know why, but she wasn't going to ask him.

But before her vacation, another muggle boy, a Hufflepuff, and Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had also been attacked and petrified. Emmeline needed to do something to help. One day after classes, she found herself walking towards the hospital wing. She entered, Madam Pomfry tending to an older student with several feathers sticking out of her head. The nurse looked up, finished what she was doing, and hurried over to a nervous-looking Emmeline.

"You look fine. Got a cold?" Madam Pomfry inquired.

Emmeline shook her head. "I was actually just wondering if maybe... Maybe you needed some help?" The witch eyed Emmeline for what seemed like forever.

Pomfry looked around the room, and with a sigh, replied: "Well, there are a few things you will need to learn. But yes, you could be of assistance. While I'm finishing up, that cabinet over there could use some sorting..."

Emmeline found out very quickly that there were many things to do on the hospital wing, and until Christmas break, she spent a lot of her free time healing minor injuries, sorting cabinets, and fetching tools and medicine for Madam Pomfry. The nurse was easy to work with, as she was direct and easy to understand. Emmeline was glad to have a distraction from everything going on and to help so many students.

The Avery Family traveled to France for the holiday break. Her mother had some family along the southern coast who they stayed with. Emmeline had a fabulous time exploring the small French towns, especially since she could speak fluent French, as Emmeline was taught a few languages by her governesses growing up. Many shop owners were surprised when she could converse with them perfectly.

This was the first year ever that she didn't get a gift for or from Draco. After all, he ignored her on her birthday too. She still wore her bracelet every day, it was very pretty, but she pretended it wasn't from him. Pansy had sent her a beautiful fur coat which was perfect for traveling, Daphne owled a few books Emmeline had been wanting to read, and Blaise gave her a new bag which someone had placed an extension charm on. Emmeline was so thankful for her friends. She sent them jewelry, perfume, and cologne she had found in the small French shops.

And even though Draco didn't get her anything, the Malfoy's sent her a gift like usual. It was another charm for her bracelet, a wand that occasionally shot colored sparks out of the end. Emmeline added it on, thankful.

Her best gift, however, was an experience like none before. Emmeline was shopping with her mother at a bakery, looking over the petite fours in the glass case. A boy came up on her right.

"I would suggest the pink ones, they are my favorite," he said in French.

Emmeline looked at him. He was a French handsome boy around Emmeline's age.

"I like your bracelet, with all the sparks" he commented with a smile. Emmeline gasped. Her bracelet was charmed to look normal to muggles...

"You are a wizard!" She whispered.

The boy gave a little bow. "Manuel Dubois, I attend Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. You can speak French!"

Emmeline smiled. "Yes, I was taught it growing up. My name is Emmeline Avery and I go to Hogwarts. Do you live here?"

"Right down the road. I thought you might want to see some things you normally wouldn't- If your parents would be all right with it, of course." He added the last part quickly, seeing her mother coming over with a loaf of bread.

Introductions were done, and Mrs. Avery said the kids could go out, as long as he had her home before eight o'clock. They agreed, and Emmeline found herself being dragged off by the boy. She was forgetting all about what was going on at Hogwarts as Manuel spun stories of wizards who had built the town. Emmeline listened eagerly, it was so interesting to hear the history behind the buildings and statues. At last they climbed up the church tower, stopping at the top. The had beautiful seats that looked over the rest of the town and the ocean below.

They told each other all about their schools, getting to know each other. They talked and told each other stories for hours, until Emmeline's stomach rumbled.

"Are you hungry?" Manuel queried.

Emmeline replied. "Yes, actually, I haven't had much to eat since this morning..."

Manuel helped Emmeline up and they walked to a small cafe close by, Manuel's arm over her shoulders. She imagined it looked like they were on a date. This thought made her blush. They got a table by the window, looking out over the ocean as the sun set. Also, the food was delicious. Emmeline and Manuel had many things in common, such as being family oriented, loving to read, and loving school. Manuel, however, had five younger siblings.

"Five!" Emmeline exclaimed. "You are like the Weasley's!"

Manual looked at her, confused. Emmeline was reminded that here, family name did not matter as much, especially not ones in England. Manuel was half-blood, and from what he told her, there was no fight over blood here. It was a breath of fresh air for Emmeline.

"At home, there is a family of seven children, they are the Weasley's. One of them, Ron, is in my year, he is friends with Harry Potter."

Manuel was very interested in Harry, that was one name he did know. Emmeline told him as much as she could, leaving out that everyone at Hogwarts thought he was the one behind the recent attacks...

At a quarter to eight, Manuel walked Emmeline back to her family's house, her arm in his. He hesitated at the door.

"Will I see you again?" He got the courage to ask.

"I am here for three more days, before we take the porkey back," she explained. "We don't have many more plans; I can see you later tomorrow?"

The boy's face lit up. "Yes! Goodnight, Emmeline Avery." Before she could react, he kissed her hand before he left. As she walked into the house, she was sure her face was beet red.

Her parents were sitting by the fire together. "How was your afternoon, my darling?" Her mother inquired, waving her daughter to sit next to them.

Emmeline gave the story of her day, casually leaving out the part where he kissed her hand. She felt like her mother knew anyway. He father was quiet; Emmeline was sure he wanted to ask if Manuel was pureblooded or not. To avoid this, Emmeline faked exhaustion. She ran to her room and got out parchment to write to Pansy and Daphne. She knew by the time her owl got there she would be back, but she was dying to tell them about this handsome French boy she had such a wonderful day with.

That night, Emmeline fell asleep dreaming of eyes like the ocean and a beautiful French accent.

The next day, she met Manuel in the middle of town. There was a beautiful fountain there. Today he brought his siblings with him.

"I'm sorry," he started, right as she got there, "they really wanted to meet you."

Five sets of eyes from various heights below her were staring at her. The littlest one, a girl, was having trouble standing up, leaning on the fountain for help. Two others were boys, the second and third youngest, and the last two girls, twins just two years younger than Manuel.

"Man-man, she's pretty!" The youngest boy whispered to his brother, a little too loud. Emmeline blushed and smiled as Manuel quietly agreed.

Emmeline, Manuel, and his siblings went down to the beach. It was much too cold to swim, but they sat around, Manuel starting a fire. His sisters were very curious about British makeup and fashion, Emmeline thought that Pansy and Daphne might be better for them to talk to but gave her best answers to their questions. His brothers went down to the shore to skip rocks and the littlest sibling had climbed up Emmeline's skirt onto her lap. Emmeline and the baby played peek-a-boo until Manuel was done with the fire. He had brought a packed lunch for them all which Emmeline enjoyed immensely. They all played some French magic games together, teaching Emmeline the rules as they went along.

As the sun went down, his siblings went home. "I think your family is lovely!" Emmeline revealed to Manuel.

He blushed. "They are good kids. I can't imagine being an only child. Didn't it ever get lonely?"

The truth was she didn't grow up alone, despite having no siblings. "Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my- Our family friends have a son my age. His name is Draco."

Manuel nodded. "Does he go to school with you? Are you friends? Or... More?"

Emmeline shook her head violently. This was the first time she had mentioned Draco to Manuel. "We used to be very close friends, but that's all. But now..." She trailed off. What were they now?

Manuel put a comforting hand on her shoulder. They still sat by the fire, but Emmeline was getting cold. She shivered.

"You can come closer, I won't bite," Manuel suggested, with a shy smile. Slowly Emmeline moved closer, Manuel putting his arm over her shoulders again. He was nice and warm. They stayed like this for a while longer, talking about their childhoods and many more subjects. Emmeline was happy.

Finally, it was a quarter to eight and she was returned home. Tonight, Emmeline got a kiss on her cheek.

The next day, Emmeline couldn't meet Manuel, as her and her parents were having their last travel day. They were going to Paris as their final hurrah, Emmeline was excited, even though she wouldn't be able to see her new... Friend? Friend... Maybe. Emmeline thought she now knew the boy craziness that Pansy and Daphne felt. If only more boys were like Manuel.

Emmeline wanted to give him something to remember her by. She wasn't sure she would ever see him again after this vacation. She thought about this while she wandered the streets of Paris with her parents. An idea came to mind, by she would have to wait until they got back to her family's house.

The Avery's were leaving France to go back home tonight. Emmeline woke up early and got to work on a gift for Manuel. An hour later, she ran to the fountain in the center of town. Manuel was sitting on it, looking especially nice today. He took her arm and they went back to the cafe they were at a few days ago. Sitting at the table, Emmeline pulled his gift from her new bag.

"I got you something, not much..." She started.

"Oh, I got you something too!" Manuel replied, pulling a small box from his coat pocket.

They got their food and when they were finished, Emmeline gave him his gift first. Opening the box, he found her copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ and a bracelet. The bracelet was plaited, made out of part of the sweater and the hair clips she wore the first day they met. To her surprise, it came out very nice. He put it on right away.

"Thank you so much, Emmeline." He squeezed her hand across the table. Emmeline was next, Manuel pushing the small box towards her. She opened it slowly, something gleaming inside.

"Oh! How pretty!" It was a charm for her bracelet that was an exact replica of the fountain in the center of town. Emmeline got up, and going over the boy, embraced him.

For one last afternoon, they strolled through the town. Emmeline added the charm to her bracelet, it jingled happily as they walked, hand in hand. They both knew that they could never be boyfriend and girlfriend, they lived too far away from each other. But they spent the rest of the day together, telling each other about what they wanted to do in the future. Emmeline thought she might want to be a healer after working with Madam Pomfry. It was a hard job but rewarding. Manuel, on the other hand, wanted to study magical creatures.

They walked together for the last time back to the house. They barely knew each other, but they had made a wonderful connection. They hugged each other goodbye.

"I'm very glad to have met you, Emmeline." Manuel said. Emmeline agreed, this was a wonderful vacation.

And last minute, he made it even better. Slowly, he put a hand on her face and leaned down. He gave her a kiss goodbye, just a lingering peck. Then he was gone.

Emmeline had to tell Pansy and Daphne. She had her first kiss!

That night, the Avery's took the porkey back to England, leaving the blissful calm of France behind. But Emmeline would never forget her time there.

After break, Emmeline still helped out in the hospital wing. To her surprise, Hermione was there, looking like a cat!

"Hermione! What happened?" Emmeline asked the girl.

She blushed. "Uh- Just potion gone bad..." Emmeline knew the only potion that could turn you into something else was a Polyjuice Potion, but that wasn't used for animal transformations... Emmeline decided not to ask any more questions, just like Pomfry. The good news was that Hermione and Emmeline could catch up, mostly talking about classes and what they got for Christmas.

Emmeline also had a lot of catching up to do with Pansy and Daphne. Over breakfast one day she finally told then the story of Manuel and the magic couple of days they had together, especially what she forgotten to mention in her letter.

"And then he kissed me!" Emmeline finished. The girls squealed. Emmeline saw out of the corner of her eye that Draco was looking at her - she guessed he heard her story. Normally, she would have told him right away, but not anymore. Unsurprisingly, he had a nasty look on his face when her story ended. She guessed it was because Manuel was a half-blood.

Around Easter, it was time to pick their extra classes. The had to take all seven of the core classes but were also required to pick at least two electives. Emmeline looked over the list: Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination, Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. If she did in fact want to be a healer, none of these extra subjects really mattered, but Emmeline wanted to pick the most helpful and interesting ones. Hermione had told her that divination was a shotty branch of magic the last time they talked. In the end, she put down for Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. None of her friends had put down for Muggle Studies, she would be alone.

The horrible news came that Hermione was attacked, along with an older Ravenclaw girl. Emmeline dashed to the hospital wing, sitting by Hermione's bed when she could. Madam Pomfry gave her the bad news a little while later that the hospital wing would be closed. Emmeline understood, and was given the job of treating anything she could outside of the hospital wing. Students from all houses and of all ages came to her, she hoped she would get some sort of recognition for it. McGonagall did give her a few house points after seeing her heal a student who had been hurt in Transfiguration.

And then Dumbledore had been suspended. Draco was in his glory, going on about how his father had finally got rid of Dumbledore, _and Snape, could you be the next headmaster?_ Emmeline was glad she wasn't spending her time with him anymore.

And finally, everything had been put to a stop because of none other than Harry Potter. He had saved Ginny Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets and stopped anyone else from getting hurt.

Madam Pomfry asked her back in the hospital wing to help wake all of the petrified. Emmeline was thrilled when they all started to stir. Slowly, one by one, they all woke up.

"Hermione!" Emmeline was so glad to see her friend awake that she threw her arms around the girl. Pomfry gave her a look of surprise but said nothing.

Ginny also needed to be attended to after being taken to the chamber. She sat down on the bed, shakily, with help from her parents.

"Emmeline, could you get the girl cleaned up and give her some calming drought?" Pomfry asked her. Emmeline nodded, going over to Ginny straight away.

"Hi, I'm Emmeline Avery..." She started, uncapping the draught. She brought out her wand, ready to perform the healing spell.

"Avery, did you say?" Mr. Weasley said in a disapproving tone. "I think we've had enough of Slytherin's!"

Emmeline's face fell. "Listen, I'm just trying to help Ginny..."

The girl needing to be healed spoke up. "Dad, it's okay. She's the one who's friends with Hermione." Instantly, the Weasley's brightened up.

"Right, well we know not all Slytherin's are bad, Arthur, remember Charlie's friend, the curse breaker?" Mrs. Weasley reminded him. Mr. Weasley nodded, and Emmeline got back to healing.

"Episky!" Emmeline said, healing the cuts and bruises on Ginny's body. She gave the girl the calming drought, and then went back to tend to the students waking up.

A little while later, she came back to check on Ginny one last time. The Weasley's were talking with Madam Pomfry. Emmeline sat on the end of Ginny's bed; the girl was sitting up. "Ginny, I just wanted to let you know, if you are having any nightmares or any fears after this, you can come back here, more calming drought will help. And I would try to stay stress free for a bit, okay?"

"I'll try my best, it isn't easy with six brothers, you know," Ginny replied, making Emmeline laugh. "And I'm sorry about my parents, it's just the Malfoy's are really on my dad's nerves..."

Emmeline's shoulders sagged a bit. "It's okay, I understand. Wearing green and silver will always make me some enemies. I just try to show through my actions that I can be both a good person and a Slytherin, you know?" She wasn't sure why she was telling the girl all this.

"Well, I think you are doing a good job," Ginny smiled. The two girls talked for a bit more, until Pomfry kicked them out of the hospital wing to go to the celebration feast.

Emmeline entered the Great Hall, hearing the announcement that exams were canceled.

"Yes!" She could hear her friends cheering as she approached. The feast was amazing, the best one they ever had. Emmeline was happy to see that Draco was miserable throughout it though. Pansy whispered to her that his father had been sacked as a school governor for threatening and blackmailing the other governors.

Emmeline ate more than she ever had, exhausted from the past few weeks. But during the feast, she had several students come up to her and thank her for helping out, especially friends of the once petrified. Also, a few older Slytherin had told her good job for getting so many house points for them, but sadly they didn't win again. Harry and Ron had gotten 200 points each for saving the school, which, Emmeline guessed was fair. She realized now that a lot of people knew who she was.

At last they boarded the train home. Pansy was trying to cheer up Draco for most of the ride. Emmeline wasn't sure if she wanted to be in the same cart as him, but she just continued to ignore him, talking to Blaise for most of the ride.

"Em, maybe we could hang out more this summer," Blaise suggested, leaning towards Emmeline.

"Sure!" She said brightly, feeling Draco's eyes on her. Blaise was a good friend, and handsome too.


	3. Year 3

** Year 3 **

Emmeline did in fact spend more time with Blaise over the summer. If she wasn't at her house, Pansy's house, or Daphne's house, she was at his. And sometimes he was at hers. By mid-summer, the officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. Blaise liked to take her shopping, improving her wardrobe greatly. Blaise's mother had many rich husbands - each died mysterious deaths after a few years after being married to Mrs. Zabini. Because of this, Blaise had plenty of coins to spend.

Being rich made Blaise look down on many people. He wasn't very fond of muggles for this reason, but Emmeline avoided the subject of the blood feud with him. He knew that she had no prejudice but said nothing about it. The happily ignored this issue, instead talking of magic, quidditch, and fashion. They would also sneak off when they could to share a few kisses. Even though Emmeline already had her first kiss, these were much different than the ones Manuel gave her a few months ago. Emmeline was very happy, despite still ignoring Draco. She had heard about him often from Pansy though - they were also dating. Emmeline had to fake happiness for her. But overall, it was a great summer holiday with Blaise and her friends.

They had both grown a few inches over the summer, making them buy new robes from Madam Milkin's shop. Each of their mothers went along as well. Blaise went first, being measured by an assistant. Emmeline and her mother were talking to Madam Milkin herself.

"Madam," Mrs. Avery said," my daughter also needs a new set of brasseries." Emmeline blushed, but knew it was true. Her height wasn't the only thing that grew. She had filled out, looking like a young woman. In only a few more months, she would be fourteen. Then she was being measured for robes, her mother purchasing these, the set of bras, and a few other miscellaneous clothing items like socks, underwear, and undershirts. Emmeline was set for the year, and with her new wardrobe thanks to Blaise, she hoped she would look great.

The next things they needed were books. The store was busy as usual, many other students buying their books. Yet, something was very different this year. Monster like books were rattling in their cages, some trying to eat each other. Emmeline glanced at her list.

"I think that's the book we need for Care of Magical Creatures..." Emmeline said sadly. Blaise squeezed her hand comfortingly. The walked up to the counter; the assistant looked extremely sad to hear that they need not only one, but two copies. Finally, he wrestled them out, and tying them up, gave them to the waiting students. Emmeline also purchased the Muggle Studies book, while Blaise got the book he needed for Ancient Runes. After getting the last few things they needed, they apparated home with the help of their mothers, but not before a hug goodbye.

A few days later, Emmeline boarded the train to Hogwarts for the third time. She waved goodbye to she parents from the window and then settled down into the compartment comfortably with Blaise next to her. Draco was laying down on the seats, his head in Pansy's lap, forcing Daphne to be pushed up against the window. Emmeline looked at her, Daphne just rolled her eyes. She talked with Daphne and Blaise on the ride there. They really needed a new compartment.

Later in the ride, the train slowed and came to a stop.

"We can't be there yet," Daphne noticed. Suddenly, the lights flickered and went out, leaving them in total darkness. Emmeline grabbed Blaise's arm. The train seemed to be getting colder, and then a hooded, black figure floated by. They all gave small screams, Draco getting out of Pansy's lap to run out of the compartment.

"What was that?" Pansy screeched.

Blaise looked grim. "A dementor, I believe. The guards of Azkaban."

"Why are they on the train?" Daphne asked, still looking into the hallway.

"It has to do something with Black," Emmeline presumed. For the rest of the way back to the castle, Black was the subject of conversation. The escaped prisoner of Azkaban. Draco eventually came back in, looking even paler than usual. Not that Emmeline looked at him.

They took carriages up to the castle. Draco, Pansy, Crabble and Goyle found out that Harry Potter fainted during the dementors bring in the train. She could see them cooking up some plan to make fun of him.

Emmeline sighed. "Can't we have one year where we don't make all the other houses mad at us?" Daphne and Blaise shook their heads, knowing their usual behavior.

As the climbed into the carriage, another girl that Emmeline faintly recognized as being in their house came up. "Mind of I jump in your carriage?" She asked. The other three nodded yes. "I'm Tracy Davis, I'm in your year, I think."

Tracy also sat with them during the sorting feast and Emmeline found out she was wonderful. She quietly admitted to Emmeline that she was a half-blood and that _meant no blood prejudice_! She also found out they had a lot of things in common. Emmeline had definitely made a new friend. The feast was great as always, and Emmeline went to bed with a full stomach. Tomorrow would be the first day of classes, Muggle Studies first thing in the morning.

Emmeline entered the classroom, not many students were taking the class. Luckily, Hermione was, and she was the first one in the classroom, Emmeline coming in after her.

"Hermione, do you mind if I sit with you?" Emmeline asked, coming up the aisle to the slightly less than normal bushy haired girl.

She moved her giant bag of books so Emmeline could sit down. "Of course!" The last few students came rolling in and finally, the professor, Professor Burbage, came in after them. She gave a nice lecture about why Muggles and witches and wizards were not so different, and Emmeline felt very happy after the class. She turned to speak to Hermione, but the girl had already disappeared.

After lunch, Emmeline made her way down to the grounds with Blaise and Pansy for Creatures. _Drakey_, Crabble, and Goyle were already there, giving Hagrid a hard time about their books. Emmeline did have to say she was quite confused about how to get it open before it ate you, but Hagrid showed them how to easily by stroking the spine.

Then, Hagrid had brought out strange but magnificent creatures call Hippogriffs. Emmeline was able to make one of them bow back! She petted its beak with Blaise, many other students doing the same.

Suddenly, Emmeline heard Draco insult one of beasts. The Hippogriff attacked him, just scratching his arm. Enough to teach him a lesson.

But Pansy lost her mind. "I hope they sack Hagrid right away!" She said in tears. "My Drakey better be alright! I'm following him to the hospital wing!"

Emmeline rolled her eyes. "I could heal that, if I wanted to." Blaise laughed, but knew of her fight with Draco. To stay on her good side, he had stopped being mean to people for no reason. It made Emmeline very happy.

Later, they walked, joined by their new friend Tracy Davis, to their last class of the day, Transfiguration. McGonagall started her lesson by talking about Animagi, or wizards that could change themselves into animals. Emmeline was very interested, and then the professor transformed herself into a cat. Several students, including herself, clapped when she was back to human form.

After class, Emmeline gathered up some courage. She was so curious of how witches were able to do that. Could she do it?

"Excuse me? Professor?" Emmeline played with the strap of her bag nervously as McGonagall turned around from walking to her desk.

"Yes, Miss Avery? How did your first day of classes go?" She responded. Emmeline was shocked. Usually McGonagall was strictly business.

"Very nice, I'm taking Muggle Studies and Magic Creatures as my electives..."

"Ah, Muggle Studies. Surprising." McGonagall's glasses sat on the end of her nose, looking down through them at Emmeline. "What were you asking me about, Miss Avery?"

"I was just wondering, um, I guess how you transformed into a cat. You said it takes a long time to do..." Emmeline asked quickly to get it out before she lost the nerve.

The professor turned around and walked to her desk, making Emmeline extremely nervous. A few seconds later, after writing something down, she handed Emmeline a piece of paper.

"I suggest you read the book _'Amato Animo Animato Animagus_'. It just happens to be in the restricted section, but you have my permission to get it. Good luck, Miss Avery," Professor McGonagall said with a sparkle in her eyes. Emmeline was shocked. Mumbling some sort of thanks, she ran out of the room and straight to the library.

She gave the note immediately to Pince, who gave her a disapproving glare, but also gave Emmeline the book. The girl glanced around the library for a seat. Towards the back was a familiar dark, slightly bushy head of hair. Emmeline went over.

"Hermione, hi!" Emmeline greeted the girl, trying to lay down the large book without making too much noise.

"Emmeline! Good to see you again, sorry I had to run off this morning, my schedule is just packed - What is that large book?" She replied, eyeing the large tome.

Emmeline wiped the dust off of the cover, it must have been a few years, at least, since anyone had read it. Maybe she would be the first Animagus in a long time! "I want to become an Animagus," she confided in the other girl. "McGonagall allowed me to get this book, I'm going to read it and find out everything I can!"

And so, she did. Whenever Emmeline had some free time, she would read the book. She did not know why, but she felt like this was something that she needed to do. The first thing she needed was figure out the steps. One day, she sat with Blaise in the common room when she found them. "Step one! Keep a Mandrake leaf in mouth for a whole month. Then gather the following ingredients to create the potion..." Emmeline started to write down everything she needed to do.

· _Spit Mandrake leaf into a vile exposed to a full moon._

· _Hair of the witch or wizard._

· _Dew that hasn't been exposed to sun or human feet for seven days on a silver teaspoon._

· _Chrysalis of death's head hawke moth._

· _Put all into vile, leave in dark, undisturbed place._

· _Until the next electrical storm, chant the incantation at sunrise and sunset with wand over heart. When the storm hits, chat one more time, and take potion in large, secure place._

"That sounds very complex, Em." Blaise frowned.

Emmeline agreed. "It's going to take a lot of planning. But I would really like to do this." She made up her mind.

A few weekends later she scouted the grounds of the castle for a place to get the dew. Emmeline figured that this would be the hardest part. She wondered around the castle for what must have been almost two hours, before she found a spot she thought would work. It was right in the corner of where two walls intersected. Overtop was a little roof, water had been running off it from the recent rain. All the way in the back of the corner, where the sun couldn't reach the spot at any time of the day, dew had formed from the water. She didn't think anyone would be walking on it. Then she set off to the greenhouses to borrow a Mandrake leaf. Luckily, Professor Sprout wasn't inside, so Emmeline grabbed it and quickly got out without any questions asked. That night, she put the leaf in her mouth, adding a sticking charm to the side of her mouth to make it easier. The next thirty days would be around Halloween and Emmeline would have to find the other ingredients then and wait for the electrical storm.

Emmeline had been successfully keeping the leaf in her mouth for the whole month. She had a piece of her hair, a silver spoon, and an empty vile in her bag ready to go. She still needed to get the hawk moth, but luckily, that day they were going to Hogsmeade. Emmeline knew of a shop that just might have it - A sketchy apothecary on the outskirts of town. Blaise was going to go with her as backup. The wizard who ran it was very picky about who he let buy from his shop.

They went to the front entrance of the school, Filch checking their names off of a long list, giving them suspicious looks for no reason. Then they were off, the town about a fifteen-minute walk from the school.

"How did you find out about this guy?" Blaise asked, taking her hand as they went down the hill towards the town.

"Snape mentioned him once, I think he gets some of his rarer ingredients from him. But he's a strange man. I would imagine his shop would belong better in Knockturn Alley." Emmeline was right - the shop's windows were dark, but an open sign was on the door. They went inside, strange magical objects littering shelves and also many things scattered all over the floor. Without warning, an old, hunched over wizard came from a back room.

"Ah, Hogwarts students. It's been a long time since I've had students from the school come to my store." The man said, Emmeline and Blaise barely being able to see the man's face under his hood.

Emmeline and Blaise looked at each other. Emmeline stepped forward. "My name is Emmeline Avery, and I need a chrysalis of a dead's head hawke moth. I know Severus Snape gets supplies from you..."

"Ah, Severus... Yes, he frequents my shop... But if you are here, I'm sure he didn't tell you the price of something like you ask..." The wizard replied.

Emmeline took a bag of coins out of her bag. " I have plenty of gold-"

"I don't want your gold!" Emmeline took a step back at the man's tone.

"What do you want then?" She asked nervously. Blaise put a hand on her shoulder. There was a pregnant pause.

"For a sale like this, I require a memory. When you have lived as long as I have, happy memories are so brief," the wizard finally said.

"Just... A memory?"

"One of your happiest memories."

Emmeline tried to think of her happiest memories... Many had to do with her family, friends, Hogwarts... And many had to do with Draco. Flying for the first time with his help, vacations and holidays together, him telling her stories and secrets... She didn't need these memories anymore. Taking out her wand, she pulled the memory of them first flying from her mind, silver strands coming from her temple. The old wizard held out a vile, she placed the strands inside. Then, he handed over her ingredients.

Before turning back, deeper into the shop, the wizard said, "Thank you, Emmeline Avery. You know where to come if you need anything else." And then he was gone.

Emmeline and Blaise left the shop, Emmeline feeling a little shaken after the whole experience. No wonder Snape was the only customer. "Let's go get some candy and some butterbeer, that'll make you feel better," Blaise suggested with a rare smile. He put an arm around her shoulders and led her to Honeyduke's.

Inside, Blaise bought her a whole months' worth of candy. The shop was packed with other Hogwarts students. Emmeline smiled at the older Weasley twins who seemed to be up to something, as usual. At last they warmed up with large glasses of butterbeer, meeting up with Tracy and Daphne. The four of them talked about the Halloween feast, Emmeline gaining a few more happy memories to replace the one she had just given away.

The Halloween feast was wonderful, but Emmeline left the hall a few minutes early to gather her ingredients, her thirty days complete. She had enough candy anyway; she could miss dessert. Silver spoon in hand, she ran to the grounds to get her dew. She got it, running back to the front entrance. No one could know she was gone, especially with Sirius Black on the loose. She quickly took the mandrake leaf and spit it into the vile, holding it up to the full moon. It seemed to shine. Then, she put her hair, the dew, and the moth in it. She mixed it slightly, the potion was ready. She ran down to the dungeons, placing the vile into an empty drawer next to her bed, wrapped in an old shirt as precaution. A minute later, Pansy and Daphne came into their room, still excited from the feast. Emmeline was quite excited too; she had finally made the Animagi potion. As the other two girls got ready for bed, Emmeline did a spell so her wand would vibrate to make her up at sunrise and if she was sleeping at sunset. This way, she would make sure she could chant the incantation until the next electrical storm. Who knows when that would be?

Suddenly, an announcement came through the whole dorm from Snape, since he was their head of house. "_All students please make their way to the common room_."

"What's going on?" Pansy asked.

"More like, what has Potter done this time?" Daphne replied. They all laughed; she was quite right. The three girls went as told, Snape taking their entire house to the Great Hall.

Blaise caught up with her. "What's going on?" She whispered to him.

"They are saying Sirius Black got into the castle."

"Into the castle- How? This place is a fort." Emmeline replied, shocked. Blaise shook his head; he didn't have all the answers. They were corralled into the hall; purple sleeping bags littered the floor. Emmeline, Blaise, Daphne, and Tracy grouped together to sleep. The hall was loud, gossip widespread, until the prefects told them to quiet down and the lights went out. Despite the strange situation, Emmeline fell asleep very quickly, exhausted from everything she did today.

The weather had taken a turn for the worst, which was excellent news for Emmeline. The day before the first Quidditch game of the season, the rain was coming down in buckets and Emmeline could hear the thunder from the Slytherin common room. She turned to Blaise next to her who was writing his potions essay. "It's time!" She announced. He packed his things away as she ran to her room to get the potion. Her and Blaise snuck out of the common room and went to the bathroom with Moaning Myrtle. Mostly everyone avoided it, especially after the chamber of secrets was opened last year. Emmeline figured it was a good place. They entered, Myrtle peeking her head out of the stall to see who was there, but then went back to her wailing. The windows flashed with light from the storm outside.

"Blaise, you should wait outside-" Emmeline started.

"Em, I want to be here for you." Emmeline blushed, but nodded her head. Blaise took shelter by the door, just in case. For the last time, Emmeline took her wand out and placed it over her heart.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus," Emmeline chanted before chugging the potion. She wasn't sure what to expect. The book she read said wizards and witches had all sorts of reactions to the transformation. For her, it wasn't painful, but she felt herself getting lighter. She went to her knees on the ground, not sure what to do, not able to see very well. She could see Blaise standing near the door, but he was a black blur. Finally, she felt herself getting smaller and smaller. The transformation was complete. She could see in color, but she was now tiny on the floor. The colors were different than before. She saw Blaise's feet coming over to her and she unfurled her wings to meet him. She landed on his outstretched hand, a beautiful, unique butterfly. She tested out her flight a little bit more before landing down on the ground and transforming back.

She threw herself into Blaise's outstretched arms. "I did it!" It was strange, she had her regular thoughts, but she couldn't hear as well, colors were much different, and of course she was smaller. She wasn't sure what to expect, but it was more wonderful than she could have imagined.

"Are you going to tell anyone?" Blaise asked as they walked back down to the dungeons.

Emmeline thought about it. "I'm going to register with the Ministry, I don't want to be caught unregistered. But other than that, no, I think I'm going to keep it a secret. Maybe Hermione, actually." They walked back into the common room.

Pansy had her head on Draco's shoulder, they were sitting on the couch. "Oh, where did you to go off too?" She teased. Emmeline rolled her eyes, but it was better to let her think they were trying to get a minute alone than what they were really doing.

Finally, Emmeline's mission was complete. She wasn't sure when she would need this new skill, but she knew that it would be important one day.

The next day, Emmeline made her way down to the quidditch stadium with her friends, trying to not let their umbrellas be taken by the wind. The weather was absolutely horrible, they didn't know why the match wasn't canceled. In the stadium, it was so hard to see the players and you couldn't hear the announcing over the wind. Emmeline sat close to Blaise, trying not to be blown over. Once, the Hufflepuff seeker came by. Tracy, sitting next to her, gave a little whimper.

"He's the cutest boy at Hogwarts!" She half-yelled to Emmeline. She did have to agree, he was quite handsome, but didn't agree out loud with Blaise sitting right next to her. Just a few minutes later, the stadium filled with dementors. Emmeline froze as she saw Harry Potter fall off his broom... She was sure he was dead.

Turns out, he was fine, as was Draco. His arm was fine before, but now the bandages were finally off so he could do two armed impressions of Harry falling off his broom.

Emmeline kept seeing the Hufflepuff seeker, Cedric Diggory, all around Hogwarts now. He was dating a girl from Ravenclaw named Cho Chang, who was very pretty. It was big gossip, as they had just gotten together after Cedric won the match. Tracy was very disappointed.

Emmeline sought out Hermione to tell her of her luck with becoming an Animagi, which wasn't hard, considering the girl was in the library a lot. Today the girl was in the back of the library at a table by the window. That was good, since Emmeline didn't want anyone else to hear her.

"Hermione, hi!" She looked up from the essay she was writing.

"Emmeline! How are you?" She responded brightly.

"Actually, I'm great... I did it, 'Mione! I'm an Animagi!" She whispered excitedly. Hermione gasped.

"Can you show me?"

"Not here, but... Let's go to the loo."

The girls walked excitedly down the hallway, both Hermione and Emmeline getting strange looks. Not many people knew that they were friendly with each other. They entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, the ghost giving Hermione a hard time.

"Ok, promise not to tell anyone, please?" Emmeline asked her.

"Of course!" Emmeline put herself in an open space, and just tried to become her Animagi form. Suddenly, she was a butterfly again, flying around Hermione's bushy hair before becoming human again. "That's lovely!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Thank you! I'm surprised it went so well..." The girls ended up sitting on the floor to catch up.

Emmeline hoped that they would be able to be friends in more places than a haunted bathroom and school one day.

A few weeks after that, Emmeline turned 14. She got a few small gifts from her friends and family, the best being a new charm for her bracelet. Blaise had gotten her a butterfly charm that flapped its wings. She loved it.

Winter break was quickly approaching. This weekend was the last one of the term and it also happened to be a trip to Hogsmeade. Emmeline was thrilled, she could get her Christmas shopping done early. She got two new pairs of slippers for her mother and father, charmed to be more comfortable than usual. For Blaise she got a necklace that you could keep small potions ingredients in and a few rarer ingredients he might use. For Daphne, Pansy, and Tracy, she got an assortment of girly objects that they could use, including perfume that was supposed to change by the smeller's preference.

The next day, she went home. Over break she got her work done early and spent tons of time with her parents. Her mother gave her the announcement that the normally annual Malfoy Christmas party was on again.

"Are you and Draco still not talking?" Emmeline's mother asked, sitting on the end of her bed, where Emmeline was lying to get to bed soon.

"No." She sighed. "We are close to each other a lot because of our friends, but we don't talk anymore. He is just so mean to everyone; I just can't be friends with someone like that."

Emmeline's mother nodded. "Some people have a hard time because of how they were raised, and Draco is definitely one of them. This has had the biggest influence on his life. And," her mother's eyes sparkled, "he's a boy, and has a lot of growing up to do. I think that one day he will realize how he has been, and you two can be friends again."

Emmeline didn't think so but did not mention it to her mother. "And Pansy is still one of my best friends, but she is becoming more and more like him. I'm glad I met Tracy this year, you know the one I've been owling you about?"

Her mother nodded. "And Emmeline, don't be afraid to try and make friends with people from other houses. The feuding between each of the houses has gone on for too long, and who knows, you may be able to spread a little unity. But you have to get to bed! We have dress shopping tomorrow!" And with that, her mother kissed her on the head and left her room, shutting the door softly behind her.

Emmeline stared into the darkness. She wasn't totally sure why her parents had fallen in love. Her mother was so open to new things and to all sorts of people, while her father was just like many other Slytherins. Maybe that was her mother's way of creating unity. At last, Emmeline fell into a deep sleep, dreaming about the four house colors mixing becoming one, the brown of the Hogwarts crest.

Emmeline's mother woke her up, and after a nice breakfast, they apparated to Diagon Alley. "This year's theme is 'A Golden Christmas'," her mother informed her as they were walking to the best clothes store in the alley.

"Last time it was silver, that it doesn't seem very original." Emmeline replied.

"Narcissa is busier this year, some sort of new business deal from what she told me. But who knows? I'm sure it will be a great party, as always." They entered the shop, told the witch in charge what they needed, and she brought them several options. It took Mrs. Avery just a few dresses to find the one she liked, a dark, shimmering gold short dress with beaded, loose sleeves that ended wrapped around her wrists. Emmeline tried a few, having trouble with what sizes since she had grown, but finally found the perfect dress. It had a V neckline on a tight bodice, the back was see-through. The rest of the gown below her waist dropped to the floor in a little but perfect circle. They were getting more jealous looks from other shop patrons.

Blaise came over that day to fly. It was cold outside, but her parents casted a warming charm so they could fly more comfortably. Emmeline really did like Blaise, but... She wasn't sure what the 'but' was in her head. After they were done, they had a nice cup of cocoa made by Nissy. They talked about the Malfoy party, school, and the news of Sirius Black, which wasn't much. They got along so well, but something was nagging at Emmeline. After he left, she went to her mother.

"Mum?" Emmeline entered their library, where her mother was immersed in a book. Her father was at work today.

"Yes, my love?" Her mother patted the seat next to her.

Emmeline sat down nervously, not knowing what to say. Then the words came flowing out. "I like Blaise as a person a lot, he's really nice to me, but there is something that doesn't seem to be totally right with me!"

Her mother didn't respond right away. "Well, my darling, you are only fourteen. You don't need to only date one person! Blaise does seem like a very good person, but if you don't feel it's right, it's not right. You have so much more time, love." Emmeline hugged her mother; she was so brilliant. Emmeline would have to talk to Blaise, but after the holidays.

They entered Malfoy Mansion at seven o'clock sharp on Christmas Eve. Everything was sparkling and a trail of golden leaves led to the ballroom. Emmeline left her parents to find her friends as they greeted people, finding them in the usual spot by the deserts. Blaise and Emmeline danced together for a lot of the night; she was having a wonderful time spinning in his arms. Several times in the night she felt Draco looking at her, but whenever she looked over, he would look away. _What is that all about?_ She thought.

Later in the night before everyone left, Emmeline and her friends exchanged gifts. Pansy, Daphne, and Tracy had all pitched in to get her a beautiful new pair of loafers for school, plus they each got her some make-up and some candy. Blaise got her a soft, warm sweater and a new pair of earrings. Draco didn't get her anything again, which was good, since she didn't get him anything either. Overall, she had a good time. She loved her friends like this, when they weren't being mean to anyone they could for no reason other than blood. Emmeline hoped that when they got older they would stop that behavior, but she doubted it. She wondered how long she would be able to stay friends with them.

At the end of the night, Emmeline climbed the stairs to the third floor where her room was. Draco had gone to a few minutes before her, and she sat at the bottom of the steps for a few minutes so she wouldn't see him. She said goodbye to everyone a little bit ago, as their parents, most of them a little tipsy, were dragging them home. Emmeline ran into her room, shutting the door quickly. She knew she was being petty, but she couldn't help it. Changing out of her dress in the bathroom, she put on her winter nightgown, took her jewelry off, and let down her hair. She climbed into bed but hit her leg off of something. Upon further inspection, it was a small box. Another Christmas present? Emmeline opened it up slowly, finding a charm inside. It was a golden heart.

"Oh, how pretty! It must be from Blaise. He already got me so much though..." Emmeline put the charm on her bracelet and then fell asleep as her head hit the pillow. Little did she know, a blond head was outside her door, listening in. The charm wasn't from Blaise.

Christmas Day was also very nice as usual, breakfast and present opening being lovely, besides avoiding all eye contact with Draco. The rest of the break went by fast, and finally Emmeline was back at Hogwarts. She still hasn't had her talk with Blaise yet, she had such a great time with him Christmas Eve. He had even given her a great kiss goodnight... She snapped out of her thinking to focus back in on Muggle Studies. Today they were learning about Muggle professions.

"Similar to healers, doctors and nurses help to heal people, but instead use technology and medicine, which are comparable to potions." Emmeline was interested.

She wrote her next essay on the similarities and differences between the two careers. She wondered if any muggle medicine or treatments could be used in the wizarding world... Many spells were good at healing little things, but there were still many things wizards and witches could die from. She included this in her essay, receiving top marks and some nice comments from her professor. Maybe one day she would find out.

The last quidditch game of the season was fast approaching - it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Things were getting nasty between the two houses all around the school, Emmeline was in the hospital wing more than she expected, helping students from each house. One day, several Gryffindors and several older Slytherins got in a terrible fight, leaks coming out of their ears at the end. Emmeline helped make the beds comfortable for each of them, as Pomfry went around giving out a potion as a cure. Emmeline found that sometimes it just helped to talk to the patients, try to calm them down, and then they felt better. She was talking to one of the Gryffindors when one of the Slytherins yelled from the other side of the room.

"Oy! You're Avery, you shouldn't be talking to them!"

Emmeline didn't even turn around, but she could feel everyone's eyes on her, except for Pomfry, who didn't care about people's business. "I'm here to give medical care, and that doesn't take sides." She finally said. She hated these house rivalries and her reputation was growing more and more as "The Nice Slytherin". Emmeline was glad to be liked by many.

Finally, it was the day of the game. It was a beautiful day, Emmeline walking with her usual group to the stadium. She decided to wear white. This way she wasn't wearing either team's color. She couldn't stand rooting for Draco, even though she did want to root for her own house. Many Slytherin's gave her nasty looks as she took her seat for lacking the usual green and silver.

Those looks were the least nasty thing about the game. There were so many penalties awarded because of violent actions, mostly started by Slytherin. But then Harry Potter realized that Draco was going after the snitch. He seemed way too behind, but his new broom had accelerated up to Draco, capturing the snitch! Emmeline hand her hands over her mouth the whole ordeal, which was good, because she gave a soft "Yes!" once he grabbed the little golden ball. She hung back a little as her friends went up to the castle, finding Hermione to say congratulations. Then she pretended to sulk with the rest of her house in the common room.

Then it was time for exams. Emmeline felt like her brain couldn't handle any more information, so she hoped that meant she knew everything. The hardest was definitely Transfiguration, but Emmeline didn't have too much of a problem with it. Care of Magical Creatures was by far the easiest, all they had to do was keep their batch of flubberworms alive for the hour. Most people just sat around and talked. Her last final exam was Muggle Studies, which she believed she did well on. She wrote as much as she could about why muggles needed electricity. And finally, they were free for the summer!

Draco had been gaining a little bit more of his swagger back after the big quidditch loss because Buckbeak was to be executed. Emmeline listened to him, a couple seats down at mealtime, talk about everything his father did to make sure the beast would be put to death. She had enough of him.

Harry Potter and his friends, of course, ended off the year with a bang. Sirius Black and Buckbeak had escaped the castle somehow, no one really knowing how. Draco was furious.

On the train ride home, Emmeline finally decided to talk to Blaise. They found a compartment to themselves, Emmeline breathing much quicker than usual.

"Blaise, I really just think... I've had a great year with you, but I think..."

"That we'd be better off as friends? I couldn't agree more." He interrupted with a small smile. Emmeline was shocked.

"Really?" She replied, surprise evidence in her voice.

"Yes, I just think we get along very nicely, but... This wasn't forever." He got a little color on his cheeks. "Plus, I'm going to Italy this summer, and you know Italian girls..." Emmeline giggled. She was very happy; this was for the best. Overall, she had a great year at Hogwarts, and she had one of the greatest accomplishments of her life. The Ministry got her letter to be placed on the registry but wanted her to come in to demonstrate. She didn't think they believed her. And, at least this year, not many people were in terrible danger.


	4. Year 4

** Year 4 **

Emmeline was accompanied by her mother to the Ministry for a quick demonstration of her Animagi powers in the middle of the summer. All of the ministry officials were absolutely floored - Many giving audible gasps when she went from human to butterfly and back. Whispers followed her through the halls, saying she must be one of the youngest witches ever to have this accomplishment. Only by a little bit of money were they able to keep her secret from spreading. Anyone could look at the registry, but not many people did. Emmeline didn't want to chance getting in trouble with the Ministry.

And speaking of trouble, her father had been gone more and more often this summer break. Her mother seemed furious about this. Emmeline really hoped that he hadn't got involved again in anything dark. She knew that his father had been involved with the Dark Lord, and wanted him to follow in his footsteps, but her mother forbade him to do anything that would put their family on danger. Maybe the shop was busy...

But to make her summer more enjoyable, her mother got them tickets to go to the Quidditch World Cup. They would have to travel with the Malfoy's, much to Emmeline's disappointment, but she was still very excited to go. Since their tickets were so good (they had their own private box), they would only have to show up the night before. They rode brooms after it got dark, with some extra spells as precaution against any Muggles seeing them. Her family set up their own tent in the field right next to the stadium. But the tent wasn't a normal tent, it was like a small house on the inside.

She was forced to hang out with Draco and Pansy, who had been dating off and on over the summer. They seemed to get in fights a lot, but then got back together with lots of snogging. Pansy told her all about it, even though she didn't really want to hear. Emmeline decided to be cordial to Draco, after all, he wasn't bad when just she and Pansy were around.

Pansy wasn't sitting with them; Emmeline's family and the Malfoy's were sitting in the box with the Minister of Magic himself. To her surprise, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also there, as well as the rest of the Weasley's. Emmeline waved hello to them all, but Mr. Malfoy was being rude to them, as usual. Once they got their seats, Emmeline told her family she had to use the bathroom so she could go talk to her friend. Maybe one day she would brave enough to just go against the blood purists and show her friendship to people besides just her mother. It was a lot harder when the people she was going against were friends and family.

"Hermione! Hi!" Emmeline almost had to yell, since the stadium was getting so loud. The girls hugged in greeting, slightly surprising Emmeline. She was glad. She had been able to write to the girl a few times over the summer as well, since she had her own owl.

"Emmeline! I don't know if I've ever introduced you to Harry and Ron..." Introductions were done, Harry and Ron greeting her wearily. They knew she was a Slytherin and who her friends were. But then the match was about to start, so she went back to her seat in between her mother and father. The veela came out and her father, Mr. Malfoy, and Draco plugged their ears so they wouldn't be tempted by them. However, the men gladly watch the performance, all except for Draco, who kept glancing over at Emmeline during the preformance. However, Emmeline was working on setting her magic binoculars to the right settings and didn't notice Then the Leprechauns flew around, dropping real gold all over the stadium. Emmeline threw the coins she caught down below, not needing it. She had enough vaults of her own.

Finally, the match started, it was nothing like she had ever seen at Hogwarts before, the speed and the style of playing was unique only to these professionals. Krum ended up catching the snitch, but Ireland won the game. On the way back to the tents, she and Draco argued about why he would have caught it when they knew they were down. She also caught a glimpse of Cedric Diggory, who was the "cutest boy at Hogwarts" according to Tracy. Emmeline smiled at him and he smiled back at her, making her blush. Draco didn't talk to her as much after that.

Oddly enough, a few hours after they got back to the campsite, her father made them pack everything up and leave instead of staying the night. They were having a good time. She had protested, but her mother, tight lipped, had forced her to get on her broom, and fly away, along with Mrs. Malfoy. She looked back once they were a little way off and realized why - The whole campsite seemed to be on fire and the Dark Mark was in the sky.

The next day, her mother was furious. She could hear her mother and father yelling at each other downstairs. Emmeline read the paper, an article by the nasty looking Rita Seeker that blasted the Ministry for not doing enough. Emmeline knew that her father must have been caught up in the action. His father, Emmeline's grandfather who she was banned from seeing, was a death eater, and Emmeline imagined her father was too, but that would break the promise he made to her mother. She tried to keep Emmeline as sheltered from everything dark as much as possible, but it was hard when everyone they associated with had ties to the Dark Lord... She also heard from Draco. He had seen Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the woods, fleeing from the destruction. From what it sounded like, he made fun of Hermione, but also warned her to get out of there. She was sure they would take it badly, but Emmeline was surprised... Was he trying to change?

Then it was time to get back on the Hogwarts Express. She sat in the compartment with the usual people, somehow ending up next to the compartment with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Emmeline "went to the bathroom" to say hello quickly, healing all the scratches they had got from Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. Then she took a walk along the train. She saw Cedric Diggory again, have a row with Cho Chang. She knew they had been dating, but they were already arguing on the first day of Hogwarts... That didn't seem a good sign. Suddenly Cedric came tearing out of the cart, very angry. He bumped into Emmeline.

"Sorry," he mumbled, at the same time she asked if he was okay.

He paused for a moment, considering her question. "No, not really." He finally said. "But I'll be fine eventually." He sulked off. Emmeline could see Cho crying silently in the compartment. Didn't seem like they would be getting back together anytime soon. She told Tracy the good news when she got back to her compartment.

The blond girl brushed her fingers through her hair. "And where is he now? Could he use some comforting?" She batted her eyelashes as Emmeline, making her giggle. She could feel Draco looking at her often, she wasn't sure what was up with him.

He and Pansy were "off" right now, but this only made Pansy more eager to agree with everything he said. He could have mentioned the sky was a bright green and she would have agreed. And that's just what she was doing when they talked about the big news this year: The Triwizard Tournament. Emmeline's mother had packed her a secret parcel which she was not to open until December. They guessed there was going to be a ball.

Pansy leaned on Draco. "Drakey! You'll take me to the ball, won't you?"

He looked out the window but muttered a yes that was drowned out by her excited squealing. Emmeline had no idea who she was going to go with, but, if there were other schools coming to compete, maybe one of their students... Luckily, Emmeline had grown a little bit more over the summer. She would turn fifteen in November, so she was almost done growing. She hadn't cut her hair in a bit, so it tumbled down in thick, shiny, black waves to her mid-back. She could tell more people, especially boys, had been looking at her after they found out she was single. Hopefully her looks could catch her a date.

The train got to the station, and outside the rain was coming down in buckets. Draco had an umbrella, but it was no use with so many people. Emmeline ran for a cart, Daphne and Tracy following close behind. The rest of their group got in carts behind them, Crabble and Goyle getting their own because of their increasing large size.

They raced from the carriages into the castle and they were the last few to enter. They headed for the Great Hall, hoping to dry off quickly. The Slytherin table was on the side, the Hufflepuff table to their left. Emmeline spotted Cedric Diggory again, he seemed to be in much better spirits, laughing with his mates. As she walked by, she accidently caught his eye, but looked away quick. Boy, he was cute.

The sorting went by slowly, everyone complaining of hunger. They had several new students sorted in Slytherin, and Emmeline had some plans for them this year. It was a long shot, but many of them seemed to be half-blood, so she might have a good chance. The older Slytherin students were too far gone, already brainwashed into hating muggle borns from their parents or peers. But these were just wide eyed eleven-year-olds.

Then the feast started, wonderful as always. They ate until they could eat no more, and then Dumbledore started his usual speech. He announced the Triwizard Tournament, which they all knew, but most people didn't. Dumbledore had to talk much louder to be heard over all the talking. Then he said that only wizards of age would be able to participate, and many students were upset.

"My father didn't tell me that!" Draco huffed from next to her.

"Aw, Daddy didn't want to let you down. Who is going to hear about this? Your father can't hear about himself." Emmeline teased. Draco glared at her, but the corner of his mouth twitched. All the students were sent to bed, many younger students upset with the news.

Walking down to the dungeons, Emmeline tried to lighten the mood. "Well, there will still be the ball!" Daphne, Pansy, and Tracy talked about that, already planning what they would wear and how they would do their hair. That night, Emmeline went to sleep, dreaming about dancing with Cedric Diggory at the ball.

The next day, the first day of school, Draco got in a fight with Harry and Ron. "Mad Eye" Moody had transformed him into a ferret. He was obviously frightened and humiliated by the whole experience, so he didn't want to talk about it. But that night in the common room, it was still bugging her.

"Draco, you can't just pick fights like that all the time, one day you are actually going to get in trouble-" she tried to plead with him.

"Yeah, right. And he insulted my mum! What else was I supposed to do?" he bit back at her.

"After you read that whole article about the Weasley's and told Ron his mum needed to lose weight! You insulted his mother first!"

They were bickering as much as he and Pansy usually did. "What is it to you, anyway? Got a crush on one of them?" His eyes bored into her.

She lost it. "No, but Hermione is my friend!" It was a good thing the common room was otherwise empty; she had raised her voice.

"With that Mudblood?" He sneered.

"Yes! And you could be too if your father didn't bring you up so horribly!" She stormed out of the common room to her dorm, enraged. So much for being civil.

They were ignoring each other again. But this prompted Emmeline to start on her plan - Brainwash the first, and second years, if she could. Her plan was to influence them to kill others with kindness, instead of with the usual Slytherin glares. One night in the common room, she had all the girl firsties gathered around her. She told them all about her time at Hogwarts, and how much better it was to be friends with many people from other houses. They seemed to listen, even though they had doubts already from the way they were treated from wearing silver and green.

She continued this plan for the next few weeks when she could. Luckily, Madam Pomfry didn't need her at the moment, but she told her that once the Triwizard Tournament started she would need her help. Her schoolwork wasn't too bad either, light for right now since it was the beginning of the term.

Tracy and Daphne hung around with her a lot. They had caught the boy fever, making lists of people they would date around the school. Emmeline caught the fever a little bit as well, blushing every time she saw Cedric in the hall. Luckily, him and Cho had seemed to break up for good, and even more lucky, she got the chance to talk to him one day.

Emmeline was walking back from her last class of the day, towards the Slytherin dorms. The Hufflepuff dorms were fairly close, right down the hall, with the secret entrance to the kitchen and the potions room between them. Cedric was coming out of the common room door, and accidently dropped his books. Emmeline bent down to help pick them up, the two brushing hands when trying to grab the last book.

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

"Thanks for the help-" they said at the same time, and then laughed.

"I can be a little clumsy sometimes," he said, smiling at her.

"You are a seeker, you can't be too clumsy," she responded, sure she was beat red.

"Oh, you know who I am then."

"Yeah, of course, every girl- I mean, everyone knows who you are. You are one of the most popular boys here." She was in a rush.

He still had a smile. "And you are Emmeline Avery. You helped one of my friends get better in the hospital wing when he was sick, he said how pretty you were."

She was definitely red now. "Oh, um, I remember that... Not that I'm pretty! Just that I helped heal him..."

He was smiling big now. "Can I walk you to where you are going?" She nodded, not trusting herself to talk.

She kept meeting him, "accidently", according to him, in different places around the castle. They talked as much as they could, getting to know each other. He teased her a lot, and one day they had some flirty banter.

"Any one you are interested in, Emmeline?" He asked as they were walking to the Great Hall.

"Er- No, not recently. Last year I dated Blaise, but now that's over. How about you?"

"Me? I would have to say I'm _very_ interested by you."

Emmeline didn't know what to say, but she could feel her checks flushing. They had entered the Great Hall, walking so they were in between their two tables. She felt like they were the only ones in the room, even though it was crowded. Time seemed to stop. "Will you go on a date with me?" He asked loud enough that both several Hufflepuff and Slytherin students heard him, including her friends, who were watching her with wide eyes.

Finally, she was able to find her words. "Yes! I mean, I would love to. That'd be great. I would really enjoy- Sorry."

"Okay, meet me Friday night outside of your common room? Around 7? I wouldn't eat dinner." He gave her a blinding smile.

Not really knowing where she was going, she plopped down at her table. Tracy, Daphne, and Pansy were suddenly surrounding her, saying all sorts of things in excited whispers.

"Emmeline, you have to let up do your hair, and makeup, and your nails could use some work..." She was still in a state of shock, but she caught Draco giving her an almost sad look. Cedric was a half-blood, and she was sure that was why.

After being subject to her friend's "helping her get ready", Emmeline stood outside the common room in a casual little black dress, the top half of her hair in a plait, and her eyelashes, eyebrows, and lips done with light makeup.

"You don't need much, Em, just enough to bring out your great features," Daphne told her.

Students walked by going into the dorms, a few giving her whistles. At last, she saw Cedric walking down the hall to greet her with a large basket in hand.

"You look amazing, Emmeline." She blushed. She liked that he called her by her full name. All of her friends had shortened it to Em, which she didn't mind. Yet, hearing her full name pass though his oh-so-kissable lips have her butterflies. Cedric held out his arm that wasn't occupied to her, she took it gratefully. Even without being trained from birth like a pureblood is, he was a true gentleman. He led her through the castle until they found an empty classroom. It didn't seem that anyone had been in it in years, but Cedric cleaned some of the dust off of the ground with his wand. Then he laid out a yellow blanket, it must have been from his bed, and got the food out of the basket. Emmeline's stomach rumbled.

"Hungry?" He smiled at her with that blinding smile again. Laid out before her was a small feast, stew, bread, extra vegetables, and puddings for dessert.

"You did tell me to skip dinner. Where did you get all this food?"

"The elves in the kitchen have taken a liking to me-"

"Does anyone not like you?" Emmeline teased. They had a wonderful time; Cedric was a perfect gentleman. She did realize that he was two years older than her, and boys that age thought about... Physical stuff. But she put this out of her mind, knowing he would respect her choices. They talked and laughed until curfew, then he walked her back to the dorms.

"I had a really great time, Cedric." She admitted as they got to the door.

"I did too. I'd say we could do this again next week, but I'm sure you saw the notice."

Emmeline touched her bracelet. "I did." If Beauxbatons was coming, would Manuel be with them? She wondered how he was doing, nothing more. All her thoughts were on the boy looking at her. "But thank y-"

Before she could finish, he cut her off. "Emmeline, could I give you a kiss goodnight?" Such a gentleman. She nodded, and he leaned down. It was the best kiss she ever had_. Sorry Blaise._

Breathless, they said goodnight.

Emmeline was able to sneak away from her house to stand by Cedric as the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived. He smiled and slipped his hand into hers, but Emmeline could tell he looked nervous. She knew he would be trying to enter the tournament, having just turned seventeen not that long ago.

The students from Beauxbatons arrived in a beautiful, powder blue flying carriage, pulled by the largest horses Emmeline had ever seen. It all made sense when the biggest woman she had ever seen got out of the carriage. She was clearly the Headmistress. The students followed her out of the carriage, dressed in blue silk that matched their carriage. They looked at the castle apprehensively. Emmeline noticed with a tinge of sadness that only older students were there, she would not be seeing her old friend. Next, the Durmstrang students came on a ship that had popped out of the black lake. Their headmaster was a man with silver hair and yellow teeth, who smiled strangely up at the school. Emmeline didn't have a great feeling about the man.

The students from these two schools and the ones eligible from Hogwarts put their names in the goblet of fire. Cedric put his name in at night so that no one would see him, but the word spread that he had fairly quickly. Word also spread that they were dating, many girls giving Emmeline jealous or angry looks when they passed.

"Just a fourth year," they whispered a little too loudly. "Too young for him."

But Emmeline put this out of mind the next night as Cedric was picked to be the Hogwarts champion. Emmeline clapped as loud as she could when he was picked, he threw a smile at her over this shoulder as he went into the adjacent room. Viktor Krum, seeker from the Quidditch World Cup, was selected as the Durmstrang champion, and the veela-looking girl, Fleur Delacour, was the Beauxbatons champion. They followed Cedric inside the room. But then, nothing could be done at Hogwarts without Harry Potter involved. His name came out of the goblet. Draco looked venomous, not that she looked at him.

The whole school was in emotional turmoil. The Hufflepuffs were mad at the Gryffindors for stealing their glory, and the Ravenclaws were mad too. Her house was being crueler than usual, especially Draco, who she knew must have been jealous of Harry. Hermione told her that Ron and Harry were in a riff because of jealousy too.

She continued to date Cedric who was so wonderful. She tried as hard as she could to help him get ready for the first task, but it wasn't too easy considering they had no idea what it involved. It was also difficult because girls Emmeline had never seen before came up and asked Cedric for his autograph, which would often interrupt their research. She just rolled her eyes at the girls; she knew how attractive he was. Luckily, she was the only one he wanted to give his attention to.

A few weeks after Cedric being announced champion, they were in the library looking for any information about old tournaments. It was getting late and all the other students had left the library. Even Madam Pince had fallen asleep at her desk.

"Hey, come with me," Cedric whispered. She took his hand, him leading her to the back of the library. There was a window seat looking over the castle grounds and the black lake. In the sky, millions of stars shone brightly and clearly.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked, polite as always. They had kissed a few times before this, but he always asked her. She nodded her head, leaning up to meet him. He kissed her innocently at first, really just a peck on the lips, but then slowly deepened the kiss. They hadn't done that before, but Emmeline enjoyed the feeling of his mouth on hers. They kissed on for a while, and Emmeline realized she had her first snogging session. After they had finished, they packed up their books and said goodnight to Pince, who looked surprised they were still there. After saying goodbye to Cedric, she raced into her dorm room to tell her girlfriends what had happened.

Cedric was constantly followed around by his new fan club of girls when Emmeline wasn't around. When she was, they kept their distance, giving her nasty looks. It was really just the same group of seven or eight girls, and after that kiss the other night, Emmeline wasn't too worried.

Cedric, however, was worried. The first task was coming up much more quickly than either of them could have imagined, and despite being in the library as much as possible, he still didn't know what the task would entail, so it was very hard to prepare. However, right before the task, Harry had told him that it was dragons. Right when she got out of class, Cedric came racing around a corner to meet her.

"Dragons-" he said out of breath.

"What?" He dragged her into an empty classroom down the hall, casting a muffling charm just in case.

"The first task is dragons. Harry Potter told me."

Emmeline was suspicious. "Why would he do that?" _What was in it for him?_ Her Slytherin side was coming out.

"He said he wanted us on an even playing ground..." Cedric looked frustrated and scared, nervously running his hand through his light brown locks.

"Cedric, it's alright. This is good, it means we can make a plan. Let's head back to the library after dinner, okay?" He nodded, giving her a quick kiss before heading up to the Great Hall.

That night, they stayed late again in the library, trying to figure out a good plan. They looked through books on dragons as discreetly as they could, hidden in one of the shelves. Finally, Emmeline had an idea.

"Cedric, one of your greatest talents is transfiguration, why don't you try to distract it?"

He looked at her for a moment, and then said, "That... That could work." He paused again. "Gosh I lo... Can I kiss you?" Emmeline nodded, getting lost in the feeling of his lips and his hands in her hair. She cut it short, ordering him to bed to try and get some sleep.

The next day, after not much sleep, Emmeline woke up to excitement running through the school. Their lessons ended mid-day so they could attend the first task. They were at lunch, Emmeline sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Cedric, trying to get him to eat something. Professor Sprout came and took him away; the champions were going earlier than anyone else. A little while later, the Great Hall emptied out, following the teachers into the forbidden forest where the dragons were being held.

Emmeline sat in her seat in the stands very nervously. Tracy and Daphne held her hands on each side of her. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long for Cedric to compete, as he was the first one to go. His dragon was a blue-ish in color, but it still breathed fire. She gripped on tight to Daphne and Tracy's hands. The stadium was dead quiet, people looking excitedly or terrified at her boyfriend.

"Just follow the plan..." she whispered.

Cedric hid behind a rock, but the dragon spotted him. From behind his shelter, while the dragon waited for him to come out, he transformed a rock into a dog. The dog took off, distracting the dragon enough to let its egg be revealed. The stadium was getting so very loud, everyone cheering for him. He took off at a sprint, grabbing the egg. But then the dragon noticed! It turned and started blowing fire at Cedric. He ran, but the end of his clothes caught on fire. Since he got the egg, he won, so they recaptured the dragon and put out his robes. He had done it! Emmeline could finally stop crushing her friends' hands.

Next came Fleur. She was able to charm her dragon to sleep, but also not long enough for her not to get burnt as well. The crowd clapped politely for her.

Third was Krum. As expected, his plan was much crueler than any of the other contestants. He used a curse to blind the dragon, but he lost points for doing so, as the dragon destroyed her other eggs she was nesting. He did, however, also get the golden egg.

And last was Harry. He looked sicker than any of the other contestants did, and that made sense considering how scary his dragon looked. He raised his wand over his head, screaming the summoning spell for his broom. He flew like never before, luring the dragon away from the egg, and then diving for it. He was the quickest one to get their egg.

Right after he was finished, Emmeline ran down to the medical tent, where she knew she could not only help, but also see Cedric. He took a nice burn to the side of his face, so Pomfry let her apply a gloopy orange paste to his face that would heal it quick. But first, she gave him a hug.

"I suspect I'll be at the bottom of the leader board..." He sighed.

"Oh, shut it, I'm just thrilled you're alive!" He gave her a small smile, looking funny with the orange paste on the side of his face. The golden egg sat to the right of him on a nightstand, gleaming. "Is that our next mystery to solve?"

Before he could answer, Pomfry come over to check on him, and then he was whisked away to the champions tent. Emmeline followed him, but couldn't go in. She ended up waiting outside with Ron Weasley.

"You waiting for Cedric?" He asked, looking at her wearily.

Emmeline nodded. Pretty much the whole school knew by now that they were dating. "How is Harry doing? Does he need any of this?" She accidently took the orange glop with her.

He shook his head, looking at the medicine apprehensively. It was quiet for a minute after that, neither really sure what to say. But he mother's words came into her head: Don't be afraid to make friends from other houses.

"You went to Egypt last year, right? With your family? I've never been before."

Ron launched into all the things they did in Egypt. He talked for a few minutes by himself before stopping. He looked conflicted. "But you... Why do you hang out with Malfoy?"

"If it makes you feel any better, we have barley talked to each other over the last three years. We... We we're brought up together. But my parents are nothing like his father. Or at least my mother isn't."

He nodded, seeming to understand. The finally, the champions came out of the tent. Cedric took her arm and they walked back up to the school after saying goodbye to Ron.

Classes resumed as normal for a while. Cedric already started thinking about his golden egg, but had no luck discovering what message it could hold. It still just screamed when he opened it. And then the announcement of the ball came, and people were very excited again. Each house got their announcement in Transfiguration, with McGonagall giving them warnings of misbehavior. At dinner Cedric came over.

"Hey, Emmeline," he smiled at her.

"Hi Cedric!" Pansy, Tracy, and Daphne said at the same time. He smiled at them, making them swoon a bit.

"How was your day?" She asked as he sat down across from her, setting down his things.

"Good. Listen, um, McGonagall told me after class today that the champions and their dates have to open the ball with the first dance." He took a deep breath. "The thing is... I don't know how to do any formal dances..."

"Oh! Well you are in luck, my governesses taught me each of the formal styles of dancing, and I'm guessing they will have us waltz. That's easy." She rambled on.

He gave her a strange look. "We can practice," she promised.

The school was mad with talk of the ball, pretty much anyone a fourth year and over staying at the school for Christmas break. This would be the first year she didn't go home. People were dying to get dates and she felt so lucky she was already dating someone. Draco kept his word, taking Pansy as his date. Blaise would go with Daphne, just as friends, and Tracy was going with Theodore Nott, another boy in their year that sometimes sat with them at meals.

Twice a week, Cedric and Emmeline would find an empty classroom and she helped him with learning the waltz. He picked it up right away, after all, it wasn't hard, and he was rather good at everything. She rather enjoyed teaching him and having his hands on her. His dancing lessons often turned into snogging sessions, but he never asked for anything more. Emmeline was glad.

Cho Chang, who Cedric previously dated, was going to the ball with one of the boys from Durmstrang. He was a handsome bloke, but Emmeline wasn't sure how much English he spoke. This was much to the despair of Harry Potter, who Emmeline heard asked Cho after she agreed to go with the Durmstrang boy. Ron was also having some trouble. Emmeline heard all of this from Hermione, who she studied with when Cedric was in class or otherwise busy.

"Have you found a nice person to go with, Hermione?" Emmeline asked politely. To her surprise, Hermione turned red and nodded her head.

"You can't tell anyone!" She whispered to her.

"Of course! Who is it?" Emmeline was interested. She was trying to think in her mind who would want to ask her... Who would make her blush like that...?

"Well... It's Viktor Krum!"

"What?!" She half-yelled, getting a harsh shush from Madam Pince.

"Yes! I was just reading-"

"What a surprise-"

"And he came up and asked me!"

"Hermione, you have go let me teach you this hair curling spell..." They girls went off talking into normal girl things, and especially, what they were wearing to the ball.

The dress Emmeline's mother packed for her was still in her trunk. She hadn't looked at it before now, but she figured it would be good to try it on. The night winter break started, she finally decided to. Opening the box, all she could see was green and sparkles. Daphne and Pansy ooed and ahhed as they helped her put it on. It had a collar around her neck that held it up, and the whole top part was covered in sparkles, no sleeves. The bottom fell down to the floor in tule drapes, Slytherin green in color.

"Oh Emmeline, you look amazing!" Daphne said dreamily.

"Cedric won't know what hit him!" Pansy stated with her hands on her hips and a big smile on her lips.

Emmeline tried her best to do some of her homework assigned over the break, but people were very excited about everything going on, making it hard to focus.

Finally, it was Christmas. Emmeline and her friends woke up late but jumped out of bed as soon as they did to look at the giant piles of presents at the foots of their beds. Her parents had sent her some extra gifts this year since she wasn't home, Emmeline making out like a bandit. Her friends got her some accessories and beauty products for the dance, but no gift from Draco, as usual. At breakfast she met with Cedric. On one of her Hogsmeade visits, she found an old pocket watch. Engraved on the back of it was a badger and a snake, intertwined. Inside, it told regular time, as well as the moon cycle.

"Emmeline, this is great. Thank you so much." He gave her a hug since so many people were around. He pulled a small, long box from his pocket. She unwrapped it, her hands shaking a little. She didn't know why. Finally unwrapped, it was a plain black box. Emmeline opened it up slowly, a very pretty bracelet shinning up at her. It was silver, with a yellow stone in the middle.

"Cedric, it's gorgeous!" She could see many people we're looking at them.

"A gorgeous bracelet, for a gorgeous girl," he whispered, taking the bracelet out and putting it on her wrist. "This was my mother's bracelet; it's been in her family for generations. When she got sick... My father enchanted it to her heartbeat. So, I've done the same, but with my heart, so you can always have my heart. I know, we haven't known each other for that long, but..."

Emmeline cut him off by hugging him. She hadn't been so happy in a long time.

After a day of playing in the snow, she went inside with her girlfriends to get ready for the ball.

"Okay ladies! We only have three hours! Emmeline, you are first!" She was forced to sit down, the girls doing a large plait that ended in a big, curly ponytail. Then was makeup, they did her whole face. When they were done, she felt gorgeous. Her accessories included a silver arm band, silver and diamond earrings from the Avery vault, and finally Cedric's present. The rest of them got ready, Emmeline helping where she could, and then finally they all put on their dresses and some light perfume.

"Don't go too heavy, we don't want to choke anyone out!" Daphne reminded them.

At last, they were ready. They went out into the common room, many people in there getting pictures. One of the younger students was taking pictures for them, they all gathered around, squeezing so all seven of them could get in the picture. Then she met Cedric outside.

He looked at her, not seeming to know what to say.

"Do I look that bad?" She teased, looping her arm through his.

"No, you just look so beautiful." He stole a quick kiss from her.

All her friends were following behind him. "Hey, don't ruin her lip gloss, lover boy!" Pansy yelled from a few feet behind, making them smile.

"What a dress," Cedric leaned down to whisper to her after seeing Pansy. Emmeline knew exactly what he meant; Pansy's robes were rather frilly... And quite pink. "And also, I have some exciting news... I've figured out the egg!"

"Oh my gosh! How? What did you do?" Emmeline whispered back.

"I went to get a bath to get ready, in the prefect's bathroom, and I just took a dive underwater with it. It sang, it was a mermaid from the lake, I think. They said I'm going to have to find something underwater."

The Great Hall was packed, Emmeline and Cedric walking around and greeting people, promising to talk about the egg later. She saw Hermione with Krum, looking absolutely beautiful. Even Draco looked shocked. Emmeline couldn't help but giving him a dig.

"Wow, that Mudblood looks great, doesn't she?" She said, mockingly. He sneered in reply, dragging Pansy off in another direction.

Emmeline noticed Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw quidditch captain, was the lucky man taking Fleur to the dance. Also, Harry and Ron had the Patil twins as their dates, which Pavarti looked happy about, but not Padma.

They sat down for dinner, the champions all at one table, also with Kurkov, Dumbledore, and Percy Weasley, who was standing in for Mr. Crouch. The food was delicious, and the Great Hall looked wonderful with all the decorations and enchantments. That was most people's opinions, except for Fleur who thought everything looked bad. Once they were done eating, the tables flew to the sides off the room, opening up the dance floor. Cedric took her hand and led her to the middle, just like he was supposed to. The Weird Sisters, who Emmeline was very excited about being there, played a slow song at first. Then they picked up the pace so the students could dance a little more freely after their opening dance, which went wonderfully. She was having a brilliant time spinning in Cedric's arms.

Hermione seemed to be having a great time as well, even though she was slightly pink in the face after talking to Ron. They happened to get drinks at the same time.

"Hermione, what happened with Ron?" She asked, quietly.

She huffed. "Oh, he is just being stupid, as usual."

Cedric was making polite chatter with Krum, trying not to seem too starstruck. "Mate, have you ever had butterbeer before?"

Emmeline continued, looking away from her boyfriend. "Well he must be jealous. He probably thought he could go with you to the dance and now-" she glanced over at the two boys sitting at a table gloomily. "He isn't having too good of a time. Plus, you look amazing." Hermione was really the bell of the ball, looking better than anyone there.

The rest of the night, Emmeline and Cedric danced. It was magical. Finally, when they were both tired and had sore feet, they left the Great Hall to call it a night.

"I have to tell Harry about the egg. He's the one who told me about the dragons. Be right back," Cedric said, running up to catch Harry who was down the hall. Harry looked confused but thankful. Then, Cedric came back.

"Well, I'll have to say goodnight," he said, a little out of breath. Everyone was headed back to their dorms. Making sure there was no teachers around, he gave her a hot kiss goodnight. They separated, breathing hard. "I... I love you." He stammered.

Emmeline's heart did a flip. _Love her...? _They had only been dating two months...

"You don't have to say it back," he smiled. "Just know I do." And with one last kiss, they went down their separate staircases.

That night, while the other girls were sleeping, she laid in bed, thinking about his words and feeling his sleeping heartbeat on her wrist. Finally, early in the morning, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

A nasty article about Hagrid came out, right after the Yule Ball, written again by the nasty lady Rita Seeker. Draco had even given a comment, much to Emmeline's dislike. They got into a small row over it, the first time speaking in a while not going well.

"Just want your name in the paper like Harry, huh?"

"Oh, you are on a first name basis with him? Starstruck like the rest of them?"

"No, but I think you are jealous! Only child all your life, star boy until you came here, and he shows you up. Merlin forbid anyone is better than you."

"Shut your mouth, Mudblood lover-"

"No, shut yours, you git." She cast a spell that stuck his mouth together and took off to her room. She was furious. Once she calmed down, she realized she didn't think they would ever be friends again. How could they, until he realized his faults?

The second task was rapidly approaching, Emmeline and Cedric spent as much time as they could in the library. A week and a half before the task, they had almost given up finding anything that could help. For Cedric to complete the task, he would need to be able to breathe underwater. She decided to write to her parents.

"They might know of something you can do, Cedric." She tried to reassure him, but he still looked somber.

As the owls flew down with mail, Emmeline saw the familiar sight of her eagle owl. Her response from her parents! She quickly opened the letter.

_Emmeline,_

_While we are not allowed to officially help, you may find there is a simple charm with bubbles that might help._

_Love, Mum_

Emmeline ran over to the Hufflepuff table to tell Cedric. They went outside the great Hall, letting him read the letter.

"The bubble head charm! Emmeline, thank you, you're the best!" He picked her up in a huge hug, making her giggle. Some people were walking by, some looking amused, some jealous, and Draco walked by looking angry.

The night before the task, she was asked to go to Professor McGonagall's room by a younger Slytherin student. Emmeline was nervous... Did they find out she asked her parents for help? Did someone see her and Cedric snogging in that empty classroom earlier in the week?

She walked up to the Transfiguration room, only to find Hermione, Ron, and a little blond girl inside, who looked a lot like Fleur. Additionally, Ludo Bagman was in the back of the room with his wand out.

"Now, I'm really sorry to have to do this, but you'll be fine..." he said.

_What?_ Emmeline thought, just before everything went black.

_Gasp!_ Emmeline woke up with a start. Slowly, she realized she was soaking wet and freezing. "Cedric?" She managed to croak.

"I'm here, love," he whispered comfortingly, wrapping a thick wool blanket around her.

"What happened?" She asked, getting her voice back a little more.

"I had to save you for the challenge... That bubble head charm worked like a trick, Emmeline, I can't thank you enough..." But then Madam Pomfry was there, fussing over them. She gave each a pepper up potion, making steam come out of their ears.

Then they announced the points. At the end, Cedric was tied with Harry for first!

Emmeline cheered like she never had before. "First place!" She beamed up at him.

That night, Cedric had to go celebrate with his house, but promised to thank Emmeline for everything she did at a later time.

This later time happened to be the next Hogsmeade visit. They had a wonderful date, walking around the village and shops hand in hand. He bought her a load of sweets and finally they decided to escape the cold by getting a butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. It was a wonderful day, and at the end of it, he gave her a great snogging in a hidden alcove down in the dungeons. She was thinking that her feelings were getting much deeper for this boy already.

The next few months went by pretty ordinarily. Emmeline seemed to have more work than ever, but when she wasn't swamped, she would help Cedric prepare for the third task. So far, they had been practicing some defense spells. By they always took some time to just talk and hang out, sometimes with a little kissing.

"Cedric, what do you want to be once you graduate? You only have one more year left after this one." They hadn't talked too much about the future, in fact, if they continued to date, she would still have two more years left of school by the time he graduated. But this was just a lighthearted question.

"Well, my dad really likes his job at the ministry, he gets paid well. And I like quidditch a lot, I could always go into the games department... What about you, love?"

Emmeline looked away guiltily before responding. She hadn't returned his ' I love you' yet, even though her feelings were deepening. However, he seemed to understand, and didn't give her a hard time about it. "Well, I think I want to be a healer."

He smiled. "Of course! At the hospital?"

She wasn't sure. St. Mundugos wouldn't be too bad, but Madam Pomfry had also talked about retiring eventually... Maybe she could apprentice under her and then take Madam Pomfry's job when she was ready to leave. Emmeline told Cedric this, looking at her happily.

"You'll have plenty of time to decide, but I'm sure you'll help so many people," he responded, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. He really was the dreamiest boy ever. She was beginning to think her mother was right, once you met the person you were meant to be with, you just knew.

Finally, exams were upon them. Cedric was exempt, so he continued to practice, Emmeline still trying to help when she had time in between exams. Her last exam was Defense Against The Dark Arts, which seemed easy after helping Cedric prepare for the third task. It was a long few days and Emmeline felt much better after they were all over. However, tonight was the night for the final task, which Emmeline didn't have a great feeling about. She sat with Cedric and his father at dinner, playing with her bracelet a lot, feeling his heartbeat. It would rise when his father cracked a joke, making Emmeline smile. All the families of the champions had come to watch their children. Amos Diggory greeted Emmeline politely, but not joyfully.

"A Slytherin, Cedric tells me," he said to her when no one was paying much attention.

"Er, yes sir. My father was in Slytherin as well..."

"Ah, yes, Avery. His father managed to get off clean after-"

"We don't talk to my grandfather," she interrupted with her eyes narrowed, surprising him. Luckily, the champions were called down to the maze before things got more awkward. Cedric stood up, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, and smiled at his house who were all clapping and cheering for him. "Good luck!" She called. They went down a few minutes later, Emmeline catching up with her friends.

She felt unnerved as they started, Cedric going off first with Harry, since they were both tied for first. The crowd could see inside the maze a little bit, but not totally due to fog and the large shrubs that made up the maze walls. Luckily, Cedric was easy to see wearing the bright yellow of Hufflepuff. Emmeline was gripping Daphne's hand as he faced Hagrid's Blast-Ended creatures, getting slightly burnt. He raced all throughout the maze, getting closer and closer to the center... She could see him meeting Krum... He was on the ground!

"No!" She said, drowned out by all the other nose. But then Harry had come to save him... He took off again, facing another creature, but then he was in front of Harry, the cup ahead! But then a large spider attacked... They fought it off together, and then limping, they touched the cup together. Then, they were gone.

"Where did they go?" She asked Daphne. The girl shook her head, she had no more ideas than Emmeline had. The crowd started to get nervous... The teachers had started to bring back the other champions, but they looked confused as everyone else where Harry and Cedric went.

Immediately, her fingers went to the stone on her bracelet. She could feel his heartbeat, it was beating quite fast, but she was relieved.

"They must have been transported by the cup," Blaise said. No sooner than the words came out of his mouth, the stone stopped beating.

"Daphne... The bracelet... It's not..." She was panicking. Her other friends heard her as well, and knowing what the bracelet did, tried to calm her down.

"Maybe it doesn't work from too far away?" Tracy offered. Her friends all nodded, but Emmeline still felt like she was going to puke.

_Please, Cedric, please... I... I love you..._ She didn't know what to do, so she sat, slightly rocking in the stands. Her friends tried to comfort her as best they could. The crowd was getting anxious, teachers running all over the place... Then, with a _pop!_ Harry, Cedric, and the cup were back. But... He wasn't moving... Wasn't getting up... Emmeline heard a scream before she passed out, just realizing that it was her own before she was overcome by the darkness.

Emmeline awoke in the hospital wing to shouting. Harry was there, as well as Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Bill Weasley, and a large black dog. The people yelling were none other than Professor McGonagall and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, who had let a dementors into the castle to give its fatal kiss to... Barty Crouch Jr, who was apparently working with the Dark Lord. Emmeline was shocked to hear it all, still completely out of it from the events of last night. Madam Pomfry had given her a dreamless sleep potion, which was the only reason she was able to sleep. But now she was wide awake, and Harry started to tell his side of the story. He started to name off followers who were there in the graveyard- One, but not two, of them being Avery. She hoped this meant her father had seen reason.

"Well, you can tell us what went on then, huh, Emmeline Avery?" Fudge looked at her and said, realizing she was now awake and listening. She didn't know he knew her name.

"We have nothing to do with my grandfather," she said gravely. Suddenly she was crying, it was all too much-

"Leave her out of this! Cedric just-" Hermione yelled from the other side of the room. The conversation quickly switched back to the more important matter, but despite the amount of evidence showing He Who Must Not Be Named was indeed back, even her Uncle showing his on dark mark, the Minister did not believe it. Handing over Harry's prize money, he left the hospital wing.

Dumbledore set to work immediately, already setting into motion things to help stop the Dark Lord. She was surprised to see the dog transform into the Azkaban escapee, Sirius Black. Dumbledore was giving everyone something to do. Finally, he turned to her.

"And Emmeline. I need your help as well. I need to you to keep your work with the younger Slytherins and try and get as many as you can not to follow in their parent's footsteps." With that, he left, going to talk to Cedric's father. Emmeline knew she was still in shock. But at least now she had a mission, something to focus her mind on.

The next few weeks Emmeline was just sad. There was a Muggle word for it: Depressed. She had made up some calming draught for when she needed it, she kept panicking when thinking of his dead body... She also kept checking the bracelet, praying for a heartbeat to start again, but she knew it never would. Cedric's father talked to her before he left.

"Thank you for making my son's last few months so happy," we're his last words.

To distract herself from her pain, she had already started on her mission from Dumbledore. Whenever she could, she told of the horrors the Dark Lord did to families that joined him, told to her by her mother - She told of her grandfather, being put under the pain curse, her grandmother murdered for not wanting to join him. She hoped that she would at least scare some of them off from joining their families work on the dark side. She was sure many of them would ignore it happening or go into hiding, but maybe some would fight eventually.

At the last feast, Emmeline sat surrounded by her friends. She knew Draco, Crabble, and Goyle knew something about the night Cedric died, she was sure their fathers were there. She distanced herself as far away from them as possible. She would never, ever go to the dark side. She would fight for Cedric.

Dumbledore announced in his speech that Voldemort was back. All the students were shocked, but he was right, they needed to know. When he talked about Cedric, tears flowed down her face. She missed him so much. At last, he commended on Harry Potter. She was the bravest person she knew, fighting Voldemort so many times already. She knew that one day Harry would save them again in the near future.

She packed her trunk, eager to be home with her parents, to feel safe again. She didn't know how it would be now that Voldemort was back. Many of their family friends would be in league with him. Emmeline knew that she would do all she could to protect the ones she loved, not knowing if she could take another person dying.


	5. Year 5

** Year 5 **

Emmeline as still in a bad state for most of the summer after Cedric's death. Her parents did everything they could to help her, but she was sad, confused, and very, very angry at Voldemort. She kept with Dumbledore's instructions that he set for her at the end of the year in the hospital wing. All summer, she had been meeting with and owling as many of her Slytherin house mates as she could, warning them of the dangers dark magic. Many of them thought she was crazy, but she had to do this, for Cedric.

She had also started helping out at St. Mungo's, just to see if she would like to work there in the future. That was also the easiest way to get calming drought, besides making it herself. As the summer wore on, she didn't need it quite as much. Time would heal her.

Emmeline's parents had been arguing a lot. She would use her Animagus form to sneak into the room they were in and listen. Her grandfather did in fact go back to Voldemort and her mother was very angry. Her father knew that because he wouldn't join, they were in danger. Many protective spells had been put on their house, just in case.

She also noticed that her mother was gone more often. One day when she was leaving, Emmeline decided to follow her. Mrs. Avery was flying by broom to wherever she was going, at night. Emmeline transformed into her butterfly Animagus form and followed. Normally, an insect like a butterfly would not be able to fly so high or so fast, but the magic gave her some boosts. At last her mother landed on a quiet muggle street. Emmeline landed as well, transforming back into herself behind a tree. She looked out behind it to see where her mother had gone, but she wasn't there!

Someone cleared their throat next to her. "Oh, hi Mum..." Emmeline said weakly.

"Think I wouldn't see you, huh?" She should have known her mother was too bright not to notice.

"Well..." Emmeline didn't really have an answer.

Her mother sighed. "Well, come on, you can see one of your friends you don't normally see over the holiday." She led her to the door of a house Emmeline didn't notice was there before. Before knocking on the door, her mother warned her. "This is so top secret, that I shouldn't be letting you inside. But I know you won't tell any of your friends."

Emmeline knew she meant her Slytherin friends. The girl nodded her head in agreement, and her mother rapped on the door. A few seconds later, the man Emmeline recognized at Sirius Black opened the door.

"Estelle, please, come in quick..." They were ushered inside, Sirius looking around outside before swiftly closing the door.

"Sirius, this is my daughter, Emmeline. She's in the same year as Harry," her mother explained.

Sirius said "hello" and led them down the hall. It was a normal pureblood house, as far as Emmeline could tell. Dark, dreary, darker, and of course lingered with dangerous artifacts. At the end of the hall was a closed door, voices coming from inside. The door opened, and Mrs. Weasley stepped out, looking thinner and tired. "Estelle, good, you are here... And you must be Emmeline!" The witch smiled at her. "I remember you from the hospital wing, dear." By this time, many people seemed to know who she was from her helping in the hospital wing.

"Hermione and Ron are upstairs if you would like to see them," Mrs. Weasley said, gesturing to the stairs. Then, the three adults went into the room, closing the door behind them with a sharp _click_. Suddenly, from atop the stairs, a pair of ears came down on strings. Looking up, she could see red hair. She gingerly went up the steps, to find the four youngest Weasley's and Hermione gathered around another ear. Seeing her, Hermione leapt up.

"Emmeline! What are you doing here?!" She got a shush from the twins.

In a lower voice, Emmeline explained: "I saw my mum sneaking out of the house, so I followed her... Of course, she knew I was, and she brought me in here. What is this place?"

Hermione, Ron, and the only female sibling, Ginny, brought Emmeline up to speed with as much knowledge as they had. The Weasley's seemed apprehensive to tell her anything, but Hermione trudged on.

As they finished, Ron said, a little red, "How do we know you won't go and tell Malfoy and them about this?"

They all looked at her expectantly. "I don't want He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to gain any sort of power or knowledge, just like the rest of you. If you remember, my boyfriend was murdered by him-" her voice cut out, she was suddenly choked up. Ginny put a comforting hand on her arm, pushing down her need for a calming drought. She continued, finding her voice. "My family has dealt with darkness forever, but that will stop with me. I want nothing to do with it. And I know Draco and Pansy are the worst to you-"

Hermione gave a humph of agreement.

"But I grew up with them, and at this point, to keep the peace, I have to socialize with them. They we're raised to be bad, and I know how much trouble they give you. But I swear, on Cedric's grave, that I will not tell anyone else."

They knew the power of her promise and accepted it.

"So, your mother joined the order without your father?" Ginny asked quietly. The meeting was winding down, so Fred and George were trying to get every last piece of information they could.

"I guess so. She was the one who promised my father that there would be no more darkness in the family, I guess she is sick of darkness in the world, too." Emmeline replied. Things were getting very serious.

Finally, the meeting was over, many witches and wizards coming out into the hall. The twins quickly got back their extendable ears. Something was bothering Emmeline.

"Where is Harry?" She asked. Hermione and Ron almost didn't look the same without him.

"He is with his Muggle relatives for now, that's where Dumbledore wants him," Hermione replied. Emmeline nodded; however strange it was, but Dumbledore knew what he was doing, she was sure.

Then Emmeline's mother came up the stairs to get her. The twins elbowed each other, standing up straight. She was a stunning witch, modeling before Emmeline went to school. "You must be Hermione," she said to the bushy haired witch, "I've heard so many good things about you." This made Hermione go slightly pink, but she traded greetings.

"Well, we should get home, Em," her mother said, taking her arm. "Hopefully before your father wakes up." She added in a low voice. Emmeline said goodbye to her friends, and then they went back to the Avery Chateau.

She laid awake for a bit, thinking about everything she learned that night. But above all, the main feeling she had was hope. If so many powerful witches and wizards were together to take down Voldemort, she would be alright.

Finally, the book lists came, signaling the start of term was right around the corner. She was sitting around with her parents, reading a book, when one of the Hogwarts's owls flew through the open window. It dropped the letter onto her lap and perched itself on the arms of the couch, hoping for some food. Emmeline grabbed a small handful of treats for it from a dish, and it went off again.

She opened he letter like usual, but something shiny and heavy fell out on to the couch. Emmeline started at it... That couldn't be...?

Her father snatched it up. "Emmeline! That's my girl! A prefect!" Her parents had enclosed her in a hug sandwich, something they hadn't done since she was little. When she was released, Emmeline looked at the new, shiny badge. It was green and silver, her house colors, and a hissing snake sat in the middle.

Pansy informed her that Draco was the other prefect. Oh no... She thought. Prefects were to go on patrol together, alone. She would have to spend a lot of time with him this year.

They went to platform 9 3/4 as usual, Emmeline excited yet nervous about another year for many reasons. She hugged her parents goodbye, dragging her trunk and carrying her owl into the train. She made her way up to the prefects' compartment as instructed, being the first one to arrive. She was rather early. The headboy and headgirl were to tell them about their year and what their responsibilities would be. Emmeline placed her things on the overhead rack and then sat down, petting her owl while waiting for the rest of the lot.

Of course, Draco was the next one to arrive. They avoided each other's eyes at first.

"Draco, if we are prefects, we will need to talk to each other. Work together too. Just please promise me you won't be a complete git?" She said, finally looking at the blond boy.

He finally looked at her, nodding. Before he could say anything, a bunch of the others came in, Ron and Hermione last. The headboy and headgirl talked about what their behavior must be like, how and when they could take points, patrol, and other house-keeping topics. Finally, they went to the compartment their friends were in, Draco letting Emmeline out of the compartment before him, even holding the door.

Draco was not nearly as cordial to anyone else, though. In the hall he pushed aside a first year, looking bashful only after Emmeline berated him. The ride was otherwise normal, even if Draco was being more pompous than usual. Pansy and he were "on again", after a long summer of being "off". But she had barely seen any of her friends over the summer and it was nice to catch up.

Pansy seemed to be following in Draco's footsteps, pushing a group of second years so they could get a carriage to themselves. The grounds were very dark, it was such a gloomy day.

However, the Great Hall was warm and inviting as usual. That was until the sorting hat began its song, ending with a warning for the students. They would need to unite in order to save themselves. Draco rolled his eyes at this.

Also, many people were talking about Harry Potter. Many didn't believe that the Dark Lord was back, believing everything that the Daily Prophet wrote about the poor boy. Emmeline wasn't sure how this year was going to go... Especially after the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher gave a speech. She looked like a toad dressed in pink. It seemed to Emmeline, as well as Hermione, who she met eyes with across the hall, that the Ministry was going to be getting involved in their educations.

The feast was delicious, at least. At the end of it, Draco and Emmeline led the first years to the dorm room. "Follow us!" She smiled at them, Draco smirking. Who had decided he would be a good role model? She was sure it was connections more than anything.

The next few days felt strange to Emmeline. She was continuing her quest of promoting house unity, the second years she started with last year seemed to have turned out well. But many in her house had been treating her differently. She wasn't sure if it was because people had caught on to her mission or because she was the girlfriend of the boy who had died at Hogwarts last year. Either way, many older students in her house gave her distance.

Every teacher had given them a lengthy speech about O.W.L.s, the exams they would be taking at the end of the year. They were viewed as very important for anyone's career path, which fifth year students would have to look further into at the end of the year. Luckily, after volunteering at St. Mungo's, Emmeline was sure she wanted to be a healer now. Especially now that Voldemort was back, she was sure healers would be needed more than ever.

Emmeline spent most of her time in the library or the common room doing homework because of this. This was okay for her though, because this meant not having to spend as much time with her Slytherin friends. In the library she would sit with other students working on the same assignments as her, working on some inter-house unity at the same time. It was fun, and she felt like she was making more friends and acquaintances. Her father always said, one thing you could never have enough of was connections.

The first Thursday after term started, the Slytherin quidditch team was holding try outs for every position besides keeper, seeker, and one chaser. Emmeline wasn't sure if she wanted to go, but she did have so many happy memories flying, and she wasn't half bad at it. Finally, after Blaise told her he was going to try out for a chaser position, she decided she would too. She wasn't nearly large or strong enough to be a beater, but her small figure made her perfect for one of the chaser positions. Hopefully, both her and Blaise would get the two missing spots.

Montague was the captain this year; his position was as one of the chasers. Bletchley was the keeper, and of course, Draco the seeker. Emmeline knew that this would mean spending even more time with him, but it was something she wanted to do. Her parents had bought her a new broom over the summer in case she did want to try out, a new model that she liked very much. She and Blaise carried their brooms down to the pitch after classes, not feeling her best thanks to her nerves. Also going down to the pitch she spotted Crabble and Goyle, decked in full beater gear, and Pansy, but in regular clothes. Most likely, she was there to watch Draco.

Arriving at the pitch, all the people trying out gathered around the three current team members. Emmeline placed her floating broom next to her, putting her hair in a ponytail as the captain talked.

"When I'm done explaining, chasers follow Malfoy and I, and beaters follow Bletchley! We will be doing a few drills to see what you can do. Of course, if you father wants to buy us some new brooms-" he glanced at their now old models, "you get on the team automatically!" He got some snickers from this, but Emmeline wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"All right, let's go!" Emmeline and Blaise mounted their brooms, taking off after Montague. Blaise and she would be in the second round of drills, so she soared over the stands, warming herself up. It felt so good to be in the air again, so natural. The wind flickered her hair around her, she figured she must look stupid or impressive, but she didn't know which one.

"Oy! Malfoy! Get your eyes off the girl!" Emmeline heard over the wind. With a start, she realized Draco was looking at her. She quickly flew back to where the drills we're happening.

_If he wants to see how good I am, I'll show him_, she thought, slightly angry. Montague called for the change in line up, Emmeline and Blaise flying into formation with another girl in their year. From the ground, a younger Slytherin threw quaffles up at them at different times and in different places using his wand, making them hard to catch. They were competing to see who could catch the most, and Emmeline did easily by the end. She outmaneuvered the others quickly, landing back down on the ground feeling smug.

"Not bad, Avery," Montague said, looking her over. The wind had pushed her workout clothes around her curves, many of the boys glancing in her direction.

Next was a throwing drill, Emmeline managing to get her throws past the keeper most of the time. Blaise did pretty good as well, and at the end of try outs, they had made the team! Crabble and Goyle were easily able to become the beaters due to their large size.

"We did it!" Back down on the ground, Emmeline threw her arms around Blaise for a celebratory hug. She didn't see it, but many of the boys gave him a jealous look, including Draco. "All those years playing in our backyards paid off, haven't they?"

Blaise agreed, and went to the locker rooms to get changed. Emmeline didn't break a sweat, so he waited for him outside.

"You flew beautifully," Draco said, coming up behind her.

"Thank you. Too bad you decided to be the seeker, we could work together," she replied.

"I think we can work together enough being prefects," he shrugged. "Otherwise we'd fight too much, as usual."

"That's true," she agreed. "Maybe we wouldn't fight so much if-"

"I was such a prat." That made Emmeline laugh.

"True. Walk me to dinner?" He obliged, and forgetting about Blaise, who was taking way too long, they strolled up to the school, feeling like kids again.

Everything was being graded in O.W.L. letter grades, Draco being a git to anyone who got D's, even though he was mostly getting A's. Emmeline was going fairly well, even getting an E on their last potions essay.

This was all good, but then the news came that the horrible new Defense teacher - Umbridge- was appointed as "High Inquisitor" by the Ministry. She would be sitting in on some of their classes to take notes. Luckily the only classes Emmeline had her in was Creatures and Muggle Studies. Draco would be sucking up to Umbridge any chance he got in Creatures, trying to put down the school and make himself look good.

Emmeline didn't like her at all. The book they were to read from every class was completely boring, she wasn't learning anything. A few days later, Hermione got Emmeline alone after potions, and told her that if she was interested, Harry was going to start teaching some people things they needed to know. She was sworn to secrecy of course, but Emmeline wouldn't tell a soul, as she was absolutely excited.

The next Hogsmeade visit, Emmeline walked out of town to The Hogs Head, sketchy pub she had only seen from a distance, with a few of the girls she had been studying with from Hufflepuff. She had to sneak off from her friends, saying she needed to find a bathroom. Luckily, they were too caught up in Zonko's to really notice she was gone. Their small group caught up with everyone going into the pub. Upon entering, Emmeline saw many shifty looking witches and wizards, and her feet stuck slightly to the floor. Yet, she could see the appeal of this place, they wouldn't be overheard by anyone from the school.

Fred and George ordered everyone butterbeers and Emmeline paid for her own. She knew she was the only Slytherin there, and several people gave her nervous glances. But Hermione smiled at her when she came in, making her feel better. They all gathered around Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The slightly bushy haired girl started speaking, everyone's eyes flickering between the trio. They explained that they would need a place and a night to come together and actually learn Defense Against the Dark Arts. One of the Hufflepuff boys was as much of a jerk as Draco, questioning everything they said. But by the end of the meeting, Emmeline was thrilled, signing her name on Hermione's parchment with a flourish, feeling like her mother. Like she was doing something important to protect those she loved from Voldemort.

The first meeting was a week or so later, Emmeline told her friends she had to go to the library to make up an excuse of where she would be. Ginny had found her earlier and told her the location, which was the Room of Requirement up on the seventh floor. Emmeline was one of the last ones to arrive but was in awe of the room like everyone else. It was spacious, lit by lanterns like the dungeons, but it had a warm and airy feeling. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with knowledge of how to defend oneself.

Harry started them out by having them practice the disarming charm. She made the room have an uneven number, so she had to switch in between different groups. Ginny and her boyfriend, Michael Corner, were the ones she stayed with at last, Ginny being quite the challenge to disarm. Overall, Emmeline had a great time, and was slightly disappointed when they had to leave. These people were nothing like the friends she would find back in the Slytherin common room.

Emmeline had to spend more time with these friends with the first quidditch game of the season coming up; they would be playing Gryffindor. Montague had them practicing every day they could, and Gryffindor the same, so no more D.A. meetings took place that week. It was nice to have a steady practice schedule though, as Malfoy couldn't question where she was. She could tell he was getting suspicious of her, sine she went to the library a lot but not this much. To make it seem more normal, she stopped going as much other times.

One night when they were on patrol, he was giving her a hard time about it.

"Em, you can't just disappear all the time to the library, you aren't that much like that Mudblood-" he said with a smirk.

"Don't call her that!" Emmeline snapped. She knew she would have to make something up to get him to stop bugging her. "If you have to know, I'm seeing someone."

He stopped walking. "Who?"

She kept walking, making him catch up with her for the answer. Should she make up a name? No, he knew everyone... "None of your business!" She finally settled on.

"Well I'll find out, there's no point in keeping it from me!" He said hotly.

"Sorry, you won't get everything you want! I'm not your father." Most days they could tease each other without getting too serious, but Emmeline was angry at him for wanting to know everything.

"Like you know so much about my father," he sneered.

"I know he's the worst father ever, and he emotionally abused you for all these years, and that's why you are such a git," Emmeline felt the words leaving her mouth of their own accord, and knew once they were out she couldn't take them back.

He didn't say anything, but he went slightly paler. Then, without warning, he turned back towards the common room, leaving her by herself to finish patrol.

She and Draco hadn't talked to each other at practice nor while on patrols since that night. Before Emmeline knew it, it was the day of the game. Her friends and a few of the older Slytherins who were friends with their keeper and their captain had made badges the night before that said: _Weasley is our king_. She refused to put one on herself, much to the disappointment of her friends. At this point, though, they seemed to leave her alone with their mean things, knowing she wouldn't take part. Draco gave her a nasty sneer when she refused, walking ahead of her down to the pitch a little bit later. She instead walked with Blaise, trying to get her nerves in order. Sure, she was a great flier, but she had never flown in front of this many people. They quickly changed into their uniforms, Emmeline putting her hair up in a ponytail before they went out.

The captains shook hands, and before Emmeline knew it, they were off. It was a fast paced, dangerous game, she had to dodge a bludger right off the bat. She did manage to score the first goal, however, passing a very quiet apology to Ron, who was playing as keeper. Her house was singing a horrible song about him to go along with their badges, so loud it filled up the whole stadium.

Ron really was bad, but Harry of course managed to catch the golden snitch by out flying Draco for it. Of course, Draco was furious, and started shouting insults at the Weasley twins and Harry, starting a fight. He ended up on the ground with a bloody nose. Emmeline ran over, and hauling him up, dragged him to the changing room. There she grabbed her wand and fixed his broken nose, right before she berated him for his actions.

"Draco, what's wrong with you! You can't just pick fights because you lost! You are going to get yourself in trouble, and then we won't have a seeker-"

"Well you don't need one anyway, Potter will best me every time!" He yelled back at her. He slowly realized what he said, and admitting defeat, he went back up to the castle.

Draco didn't get in trouble, of course, because of a new decree by that horrible Umbridge woman: All punishments would be left up to her. And of course, Mr. Malfoy had the Minister in his pocket, so Draco didn't even have to write lines. Emmeline hoped that her ignoring him would be a good punishment.

Before Christmas break, they had one last D.A. meeting. Draco had given up on asking her where she was going, but he did keep asking who she was going to see. Emmeline guessed he did believe her lie that she was dating someone.

At the meeting, they practiced everything they had been learning over the past few months, Emmeline happy with all the progress she made. Today, and the past few meetings, she had been practicing with the Ravenclaw prefect, Anthony Goldstein. He was quite cute, with a smart brown haircut and nice jaw line. Emmeline had a hard time practicing with him because of this.

The meeting ended, and Emmeline left as usual, the only one going down to the dungeons. Suddenly, a pair of footsteps sound behind her, Anthony was running down the hall after her.

"Could I..." He was out of breath. "Could I walk you to your common room, Em?"

She smiled and nodded her head and they fell into a comfortable pace. It quickly came apparent that he didn't want to just walk, as he suggested a long way around that included a nice private alcove that students often used to snog. One that she had used with Cedric in the past...

She kissed Anthony anyway, even though she was thinking of Cedric. It felt wrong to use Anthony like that, but she couldn't help it. Emmeline missed Cedric, and it was simple as that. But maybe, if she could find someone else she liked it would help heal the pain...

_He would want me to be happy, s_he thought, as Anthony moved his mouth to her neck. She let herself go, moving her leg up against him to be closer. They snogged and ran their hands all over each other for a while until he knew he should head back to his common room. Her dropped her off at hers even though it was very out of the way, giving her a cheeky smile before he left. She knew a bruise was forming on her neck already, but she didn't heal it just yet.

She said the password and the door swing open, to reveal what she was hoping: Her friends and Draco gathered around the fire. To make sure he got a good look, Emmeline swing her hair around the other side of her face.

"Emmy!" Pansy shrieked. "You really have been with a boy!" This caught several looks from other students still in the room, but Emmeline was thrilled for the attention because of the look on Draco's face.

Emmeline went home for Christmas like usual. She was thrilled to see her parents, her mother taking her immediately out to go shopping for this year's Christmas party.

"Mr. Malfoy, as you know," her mother said quietly as they walked through Diagon Alley, "is serving He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But, Narcissa begged for the Christmas party to go on like normal, and he agreed, as not to call attention to themselves, I'm sure. So, this year we will have to keep an extra eye out, just in case, okay?"

Emmeline nodded. She half though of asking Anthony if he wanted to be her date, but it was better to not by this news. They entered Twilfitt And Tatting's, the owner greeting them, familiar with their faces by now. Emmeline wanted to get something that _screamed I will have nothing to do with the Dark Lord!_ This year's theme was "Christmas Past", so she believed any Christmas color would be fine.

She traveled over to the white section, pulling out a white dress with lace detail all on the top. Her mother came over, seeing Emmeline pick up a dress. "Well, go try it on," she said, looking at the dress with a smile. Emmeline walked to the back of the store dress in hand, her mother distracted by another dress in the white section.

Emmeline entered the dressing room and quickly put her selection on. It fell to the floor and pooled there in white silk waves from a white belt around her waist. Above this was all lace, her breasts we're covered by the lace in two big circles, but otherwise, the lace was patterned over the rest of her midsection and back, ending with two lace sleeves that went down to her mid forearms. It was gorgeous and made her feel great. Emmeline was a little nervous about the white and her being so pale, but somehow it worked.

She stepped out of the dressing room to find her mother wearing another white dress. This, however, was very sexy, in her mother's usual style. The gold and white bodice had a plunging neckline that ended just above her belly button, and the bottom of the dress was white and stuck to her figure. It made her look beautiful as well.

"You look amazing, my love," her mother beamed. "The boys won't be able to take their eyes off you!"

Emmeline rolled her eyes, but she smiled. It was so nice to be around someone who loved her again.

They paid for their new dresses and walked by all of the stores. Emmeline told her mother about her friends being so mean, but her trying to make other ones. She didn't dare mention the D.A. but did say that she had met a new boy while studying, and that they had kissed. She explained he was a Ravenclaw and very nice, but that she was feeling a bit conflicted with Cedric.

Her mother looked at her thoughtfully. "Like you said, Cedric would want you to be happy, the boy loved you very much." Emmeline blushed. "And if your happiness means finding other people to love, that would be fine with him I'm sure. Lots of witches who have their loved ones die go on and find love again, Emmeline. You can too."

That night, Emmeline and her mother traveled to his grave so she could hopefully find some more peace. She knew his death would always haunt her, but she wanted to be happy again too. Her mother made a flower wreath with her wand, Emmeline whispering _I love you_ one last time.

Her mother put some plaits in her hair and helped her with some makeup before slipping into their dresses for the party. Her father with them, they apparated to Malfoy Manner. Immediately, the first thing Emmeline noticed was the increase in shifty looking witches and wizards. Mr. Malfoy must have invited all of his contacts to strengthen their connections. Upon entering the ball room, her arm in her father's, Emmeline spotted the Minister of Magic. The Malfoy's had gone all out this year again, ice sculptures and decorations and food like never before.

Emmeline let go from her father, finding her friends at one of the tables towards the back of the room. Pansy was sitting on Draco's lap, wearing a horribly bright green dress. Draco didn't look happy about any of it.

"Emmeline!" Daphne smiled at her. "We were waiting for you to start presents!"

She kept her presents for them in her trusty purse Blaise got for her a few years ago, which was enchanted to be extended on the inside. She pulled out boxes and boxes, until they could barely see each other over the pile of gifts on the table.

Emmeline started on her pile. Blaise got her a broom charm for her bracelet that took off and soared around before resting back down on her wrist. The girls had gotten her some new clothes and jewelry, her favorite a snake necklace that laid lightly around her neck. Theodore Nott, who she had gotten to know better over this year, swapped some potions ingredients with her. Draco, as usual, didn't gift her anything, nor she him. Their friends were used to them not exchanging by now.

After gifts, Mrs. Malfoy came over to them. "Girls, there are some boys around your age from different schools, we have connections with their parents, and they would love to dance with you!" She smiled brightly. Pansy and Daphne almost ran to the dance floor, but Narcissa walked along with Emmeline slowly. Emmeline was surprised Pansy got up from Draco that quickly.

"I don't know why she would choose to wear a dress like that," Mrs. Malfoy whispered, her eyes on Pansy. Emmeline tried not to giggle, but it was rather awful. "Emmeline, dear, the boys wanted to dance with you, but I didn't want to make the other girls feel bad about themselves. Off you go!"

She gave Emmeline a slight push into the arms of a young, dark haired wizard. "My name iz Pierre, my lady, 'ow are you tonight?"

The boy was from Beauxbatons, a year older than her. At the end of the dance, she was whisked away by another one of the boys, from Durmstrang, and then the last, also from Durmstrang. She spent the night being swapped between these three, not sure who she liked the best. Because of all of the dancing she did, she was exhausted by the end of the party.

Bidding her friends and the three foreign boys goodbye, Emmeline made her way up the stairs to her room in the Manor. At the top, she saw Pansy going into Draco's room. She vaguely remembered the girl telling her she was staying the night, but she didn't think in his room. Did his parents know about this?

Shaking her head, she went across the hall into her own room, waking up a bit by her stomach growling. She didn't have time to eat with all the dancing!

"Nissy!" Emmeline called out softly. With a _crack!_ the house elf appeared a few feet from her.

"Young master calls me, miss?" The house elf said.

"Hi Nissy! Would you please get me some food? I just realized I didn't eat anything tonight."

"Ah, yes, young master was too busy dancing with boys! Nissy will bring something straight away, miss!" With another _crack!_ she was gone.

In the meantime, Emmeline got changed into her night gown and out of her dress, hanging it up in the closet. While she took out her hair and wiped off her makeup, she had an idea.

Nissy came back several minutes later with a tray loaded with a few sandwiches, some chips, and half a cake.

"Where would miss like this, miss?" Nissy asked.

"Actually, Nissy, could you take it up to the astronomy tower? I think I want to go up there tonight." Nissy agreed, disappearing.

Emmeline didn't feel too tired anymore, she went up the steps to the highest part of the Manor as quick as she could. The astronomy tower was one of her favorite places to be as a child, her and Draco would come up and lay in the center of the room, gazing up into the night sky. The whole ceiling and the walls were glass, perfect for stargazing all night long. By the time she arrived in the room she was out of breath, but Nissy had set everything up for her. A nice, soft blanket was down, the food tray on top of it. Emmeline went and sat down, grabbing some chips and gazed up at the beautifully clear sky as she ate. There was a crescent moon and way too many stars to count, Emmeline recognizing many constellations from astronomy class.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a figure ran inside. Emmeline's head snapped up, catching the sight of short, blond hair.

"Draco?" She asked. Then, she caught sight of his face, marked with tears. "What's wrong?"

He hastily wiped his eyes, but didn't say anything, just stood there, looking very upset.

"Come here, I can't eat this cake all by myself." There was nothing he liked more than sweets. Slowly, he came over, and sat on the blanket across from her, the tray between them. He picked up an extra fork, digging in when she did. They sat like this for a while, eating and not talking. Finally, the tray was clear, and it vanished. Emmeline laid down on the blanket, trying to look like she was only looking at the stars, but glanced at Draco frequently. He had laid down as well.

Suddenly, he whispered to her. "Pansy..."

She let him pause, not wanting to say anything if he was going to tell her what was wrong. Had they broken up again? He wouldn't be upset about that; they had broken up loads of times.

Eventually he told her. "She... Forced herself on me."

Emmeline sat up. "She did what?! Draco, that's too much, I'm going-" she went to get up, but he pulled her back down.

His eyes were cold. "You can't tell anyone." She understood, his reputation was at stake. Purebloods often had an unspoken rule about waiting until marriage to have sex, but if someone were to find out, his marriage prospects would decrease. Also, they were only sixteen…

She nodded and placed her hand on his. He flinched at first, but then relaxed. She laid back down next to him, still holding his hand. They laid in the dark for a while, Emmeline getting very sleepy now that she had eaten. A few moments later, she was asleep.

If she had stayed awake only a few seconds longer, she would have heard the words "But I love you…" slip from Draco's lips.

Instead of staying the next morning, the Avery family left to have Christmas at home. Mrs. Malfoy gave her a gift before she left, and Draco gave her a strange look. He didn't seem to be himself after last night. She felt bad, kissing him on the cheek when she left, much to his surprise. The tips of his ears were pink when she looked back before flooing home.

They had a big Christmas breakfast like usual, Uncle Severus joining them. He had gotten her a book that would help nicely in N.E.W.T. potions next year, which she would have to take to become a healer. Her parents got her all sorts of things for school and some new games to play. Overall, it was a great Christmas.

The rest of break went by quick, Emmeline finishing up her work, so she didn't have too much to do going back. She asked Hermione when the next D.A. meeting would be quietly during Creatures, but they had no plans yet. She also kept seeing Anthony everywhere now. He asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him on Valentine's day, she agreed.

She enjoyed attending the D.A. meetings with him, they would often walk hand in hand to them. Once he even picked her up at the common room door, Emmeline leaving it open a few seconds longer than normally so those inside could see her giving him a kiss on the cheek as a hello.

Harry was teaching them all sorts of things, especially with the news that ten former death eaters had escaped Azkaban. Emmeline was worried. She would owl her parents more frequently than normally, being safe give away too much information, as Hermione had told her that Umbridge was watching the mails from the school, as well as the floo network. But it was good to know each time her owl returned that her parents were safe and well.

January went by very fast with all the homework the teachers were giving them, and before Emmeline knew it, it was Valentine's Day. Daphne had suggested they go to a quaint little tea shop where the matron didn't mind if students got a little touchy or not. This sounded good to Emmeline, since that was what mostly consisted of her and Anthony's relationship. That, and practicing spells against each other at D.A. meetings.

They got in the line to get their names checked, talking about Quidditch to pass the time. Finally, they were off to the little village hand in hand. It was a slightly cold day, and very damp. There had been a lot of rain lately. The strolled to find the tea shop, which was in a little side alley near Zonko's. She spotted her friends behind them, waving before they entered. Daphne and Tracy beamed at her, Pansy was looking at Draco with her puppy eyes, and Draco had a sour look on his face. Emmeline tried to put out of mind what happened on Christmas Eve for right now, since she was on a date.

Anthony selected a table in the corner, very secluded. The witch in charge came over to them.

"What will you have, dears?" The tiny witch smiled at them.

Emmeline looked at Anthony. "Tea?" She suggested, be nodded in agreement. Minutes later, the witch had brought their order. Many other couples were holding hands and kissing, except for Harry and Cho, who seemed to be having a row. Emmeline tried to ignore them, instead focusing on Anthony's lips. He was a marvelous kisser, which was good, since they didn't do much else. He went to place a hand on her knee under the table, but then Cho ran out of the shop and Harry yelled after her, making Emmeline jump back. They ordered another round of tea and then did a bit more snogging, before leaving to shop. Once, Emmeline opened her eyes when her and Anthony were kissing for a moment and she caught a flash of blond hair in the window. However, by the time they left the shop, her friends were nowhere to be seen.

The next few months were filled with work and Umbridge was always sitting in on their Creatures classes. Hagrid continued to have bruises and cuts all over his face every class; Emmeline didn't have the faintest idea of what he could be up to to receive these injuries. Classes weren't necessarily going bad for Emmeline, but she was very stressed. She was making several batches of Calming Drought that she gave out to those who needed it.

The D.A. meetings were brilliant as usual. Emmeline thought that everyone there would definitely get O's on their Defense O.W.L. They starred on practicing the Patronus spell just before Easter. Emmeline was having trouble with hers. Every happy thought that came into mind had to do with her friends and family- The friends she didn't like half the time and her family who was in danger. She got a few wisps out of the end of her wand eventually, but the full form was eluding her.

With a surprising _crack!_ a house elf, wearing at least a dozen hats, apparated into the room. He warned them that Umbridge was coming. She had found out about them.

Emmeline ran with Anthony towards the library, they could stay in there for a few minutes before heading back to their dorms. By the time they got into the library, they were both out of breath, hiding behind a row of books to hide. She was sure they looked suspicious. No more than a minute later, Crabble and Goyle came into the library with Draco. Of course, that bitch knew where to look...

"Anthony!" Emmeline whispered quickly. "Kiss me!"

"What-" before he could finish, Emmeline pulled him by the front of his robes to her. They started a nice snog, and by the time Draco and his goons came around the corner, Emmeline had her hands in Anthony's hair.

"What's going on here, exactly!?" Draco walked up to them slightly growling. Anthony stepped back from Emmeline to face him. "It's almost curfew, you know, and this" he said, gesturing to them, "is obviously against school rules."

"Oh, sorry," Emmeline tried to look bashful. "We've been here for about the last hour studying-"

"She just can't keep her hands off me," Anthony finished with a cocky smile.

Draco looked murderous. "Well, in that case, fifteen points from Slytherin and Ravenclaw." It seemed to hurt him to say it, and then he stalked away with his cronies.

Emmeline sighed in relief, placing her head on Anthony's shoulder. They had successfully gotten away, but she knew Draco was still suspicious.

The next day, Dumbledore was gone. Ginny told her that he had taken he blame for their D.A. meetings and then had somehow escaped the school. That meant Umbridge was now completely in charge. She had created in Inquisitor's squad, which of course Draco was in, as well as Crabble, Goyle, and Pansy. They were allowed to take points and that's how he took them that night in the library from her, even though she was a Prefect. They weren't talking to each other again, but that was alright. Emmeline spent most of the time studying, especially over the Easter holiday, since the O.W.L. exams were quickly approaching.

Finally, it was time for career decision with her head of house. Even though she knew what she wanted to do, Emmeline still leafed through the pamphlet that was handed out to everyone. There were so many interesting jobs, but she did really want to help others healing.

Snape had been in a horrible mood, as usual, but told her she would need "Exceeds Expectations" in NEWT Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Potions and intern after graduation. She knew it wouldn't be easy, but now she was set on her path.

A little excitement came a little while later. Fred and George had sprayed everyone in a corridor with stink sap. Luckily, Emmeline was having a chat with Professor Sprout about NEWT Herbology, so she didn't get covered, though many others did. Before they could be punished, they got their brooms and flew away from Umbridge. They announced their new shop on Diagon Alley, which Emmeline would be sure to visit in the future.

After this, the school was full of mischief, everyone following in the Weasley twins' steps. Pranks would be happening all day long all over the castle, driving Umbridge, Filch, and the Inquisitorial Squad mad. Emmeline send a jinx at Pansy when the girl was about to find the source of a dung bomb, making the girl sprout antlers. She _almost_ felt bad about it.

At night, the squad would stay up late in the common room until everyone had gone to bed, making plans about how to catch and take points from misbehaving students. Emmeline would fake going to bed, and in the hall in front of her door, change into her Animagus form. She would fly under the couch they were talking at and hear what they were saying.

When she could, she would warn students who were up to no good about where the squad would be, saving them. Emmeline was making more friends because of this, much to her delight.

Quidditch was also making the time go by very fast. Emmeline had practice twice a week. It was a wonderful escape from studying, and Emmeline was playing quite well. This made her very popular with many of the older Slytherins who did not really like her before, as they wanted to win the cup very badly. However, thanks to Draco, they lost the match against Hufflepuff, which was their last game of the season.

The overall last match was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Ron wasn't doing much better, but only for the first few seconds of the game. Then he saved every shot, and his sister caught the snitch! Emmeline was happy for Ginny, flashing her a sneaky smile before she left the stadium with her fellow Slytherins.

The Gryffindor's had changed the Slytherin song "Weasley is Our King" as well, making Draco even more angry.

Finally, O.W.L.s started. Emmeline had studied for many hours a day, most of the time having her nose in a book. She took a lot of time studying in small groups, as well. Charms was the first exam, then Transfiguration, Herbology, and then Defense. Emmeline thought she did fairly well in all of them, especially Defense Against the Dark Arts, all thanks to Harry Potter and the D.A. That was all for the first week, Emmeline spending some quality time with Anthony over the weekend to try to relax.

The next Monday, Emmeline had Potions, which she had no trouble with, at least on the technical part. Then was Care of Magical Creatures, which Emmeline thought was the easiest exam yet, besides Muggle Studies, which was also that week. The last exams were Astronomy and History.

During the Astronomy test, which occurred at night, Umbridge sent an attack on Hagrid and his house. Luckily for her, by the time this happened, Emmeline was almost done filling in her star chart. But she was shaken, Professor McGonagall had come down to the grounds and got hit my multiple stunning spells. In the end, Hagrid got away, and McGonagall ended up in the hospital wing. Even her fellow house mates didn't have anything bad to say about what happened to their Transfiguration teacher.

Finally, their exams were over. Emmeline spend the afternoon outside, laying by the lake with Anthony. They went back inside for dinner, Emmeline digging in. But then, she realized, Draco, Pansy, and a few other members of the squad weren't present. She had a bad feeling...

She excused herself from dinner, saying she'd be back. Emmeline ran to Umbridge's office, only stopping to hide in an empty classroom when she heard the familiar voice of that horrible lady. She had Harry and Hermione in front of her, walking with her wand pointed at their backs. Once they were out of sight, Emmeline snuck carefully towards the door of Umbridge's office. Luckily, it was unlocked, still slightly ajar. She listened carefully, hearing some of her house mates talking. Peeking through the door, she was they had Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna held in the room. They were all looking at each other, getting ready to escape...

"Stuplefy!" Emmeline send her spell at the closest Slytherin, Crabble. She heard her fellow D.A. members take down the rest, and then they all ran out before they could be pursued.

"Thanks for the help, Emmeline!" Ginny said as they went towards the entrance hall. Emmeline went back to the Great Hall, just sitting down next to Anthony when Draco came in, looking furious, bat boogies still coming out of his nose.

Madam Pomfry needed her help in the hospital wing sometime later. Hermione was very hurt, along with Ron, Neville, and Ginny. She couldn't help too much besides fetching things for the witch, but she was able to mend Ginny's broken ankle rather easily. She had gotten the story of what happened to them in the Department of Mysteries, and finally the Ministry confirmed that the Dark Lord had returned. Emmeline sat with her fellow D.A. members in the hospital wing as much as she could, glad that they were not hurt, and the school was back to normal. Another resident of the hospital wing was that horrible Umbridge, apparently Hermione and Harry had led her to the forest where she was attacked by the centaurs.

At meals it was rather quiet at the Slytherin table. Draco was scared, she knew it. His father had been found in his death eater mask in the Department of Mysteries, she was sure he was off to Azkaban.

For this reason, Emmeline was glad to be on the train home. She caught Anthony on the end of the train, both of them deciding to end their relationship, since it was only physical anyway, and they wouldn't see each other much over the summer. She met her parents on the platform, both of them looking tired. But, as always, they went home, with another summer to look forward to.


	6. Year 6

** Year 6 **

Emmeline had quite the surprise just a week into break. Draco had shown up on her doorstep, saying that he flew there. He wouldn't say why he was there but asked if he could come in for a bit. Since Mrs. Avery answered the door, she agreed, letting him in. He looked at Emmeline but didn't say anything as he entered the library where she was in, instead just grabbing a book from a shelf and choosing a seat a little way away from her.

This continued almost every day. She finally asked him one day why he was there.

"I just don't want to be home, and Pansy is being annoying." He mumbled. Draco and Pansy had been on and off for the last three years, Pansy believed they we're going to get married. Emmeline was the only one who knew she mistreated him, even raped him. She did have sympathy for him, even after running around with Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad last year.

He seemed much more matured and settled than before. Emmeline wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew it wasn't good. His father was in prison, but she couldn't see why that would make him come to her house every day. They didn't talk a lot, but she was starting to become more comfortable with him again.

About a month into vacation, Emmeline got her O.W.L results. Her hands were slightly shaking as she opened the letter, sent by owl.

** _ Ordinary Wizarding Level Results _ **

_Pass Fail_

_ Outstanding (O) Poor (P)_

_ Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)_

_ Acceptable (A) Troll (T)_

_Emmeline Estelle Avery has achieved:_

_Astronomy E_

_Care of Magical Creatures O_

_Charms O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts O_

_Herbology O_

_History of Magic A_

_Potions O_

_Muggle Studies O_

_Transfiguration E_

She was absolutely thrilled by her scores and so were her parents. They bought her an extra set of school robes for the occasion when they went to Diagon Alley. They were shopping with Draco and his mother, as it was better to travel in packs these days. However, Harry, Ron, and Hermione also came into the clothing store and both sides starting a fight, like usual. Draco and his mother fled the shop, Emmeline and her family having to follow behind. She said sincere apologies to them going out.

She knew that Draco would likely never get along with them, just because of his upbringing. And now, because his father was in prison, and whatever else was going on with him, he was in a horrible mood when they were shopping. The only times he seemed to rest were when he was alone with her at her house. He seemed to be more content then, even falling asleep on her couches.

But luckily, their families split up in Diagon Alley. This meant Emmeline could go to one of the newest shops on the street, run by the Weasley twins. There were all sorts of jokes and charmed things in there, Emmeline half emptied her purse. She also got to see Hermione and Ginny, talking to them for a few minutes, apologizing to Hermione for earlier.

After she bought all her things, Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to have disappeared. That is until Emmeline saw three familiar pair of feet going down the street... She went of the shop, into a nearby alley, and changed into her Animagus form to follow. They ended up in front of Borgin and Burke's, where could be seen Draco inside through the dirty window.

_Oh no, what are you doing in there?_ She thought. He seemed to be trying to purchase the large, black cabinet on his left, and he was being as rude as ever to the shop owner. When the Golden Trio went back to the Weasley's shop, so did she, her parents not noticing she was gone.

One day, Draco looked quite haggard when he arrived. Emmeline answered the door.

"Rough trip?" She asked curiously.

They walked into the usual room they hung out in, the small library on the first floor. "Emmeline, I can't stay long." He said when she sat down on the couch like usual. "They found out I'm leaving."

She was highly confused. "Who found out you were leaving?"

He shook his head and then slowly came closer to her. "Emmeline, this year you will probably not see much of me. I have a task to do." He was still coming closer. He looked worried, scared.

"What kind of task?" She asked, gazing up at him. He shook his head again, but finally in front of her, squatted down so they were eye to eye. Then, taking her face in his hands, he kissed her, ever so softly.

Everything made sense now. All the looks he had given her, all his jealous remarks, the _I love you_ in his voice that floated around her dreams...

Before she could react, he was out of the room. She chased after him, but he was already passed the front door, grabbing his broom. He sent a small smile at her as he took off, leaving her more confused than ever.

That night she couldn't sleep. She wanted to owl him, floo to his house... Do something drastic to get answers out of him. What was going on? What was this task? How could he just kiss her and then leave? She didn't even know what to feel, besides worry for the prat.

At the end of the summer, they boarded the train as usual. Emmeline went to the prefect's compartment as told, only for Draco never to show up. Whatever this "task" was, it must interfere with his prefect duty. After her patrol, she went back to the Slytherin compartment with her friends. She had only sat down for a moment before a second year Hufflepuff girl came in.

"I have something for Blaise Zabini and Emmeline Avery!" She squeaked. They took the envelopes from her, and the girl left, Emmeline giving her a small smile.

"Professor Slughorn wants us for lunch," Blaise informed their friends. Emmeline was quite curious, her parents told her they would be getting a new potions professor. This must be him. She want to see if Draco was alright, learn anything, but he didn't even look at her as she followed Blaise out of the compartment.

They traveled up the train to an open cart with tables, where the fattest man Emmeline had ever seen sitting with a few other students, including Ginny. Then Harry and Neville showed up, being the last.

Emmeline quickly found out that everyone invited had some sort of connection that Slughorn liked, or, like Harry, was famous yourself. Apparently, he knew Emmeline's mother, but he was also impressed about her _special talent_, being so young, but luckily for Emmeline, he didn't tell everyone there she was an Animagus. He told a great many stories about all the famous wizards and witches he taught, all who joined his Slug Club.

Afterwards, when it got dark, she walked back with Blaise to their compartment. Harry and Neville walked behind them. The boys went back to their compartment, and they went to theirs, Emmeline walking through the door first. But when Blaise went to close the door, it wouldn't shut. He was thrown back onto Goyle, but also hit her back, making her fall on to Draco's lap. Pansy looked angry, but they were all trying to see what was going on with Blaise. Finally, things settled down, and Emmeline sat next to Pansy, muttering an apology to Draco.

Then Blaise and Emmeline told the story of the meeting, Draco getting a bit upset to find out he wasn't invited because of his death eater father. Slughorn had asked her when she arrived if the Avery caught was related to her, she said they had no connection to him whatsoever. That seemed to please him.

Draco talked about how he didn't care, but Emmeline knew he did. But he flaunted that he wouldn't be back in school next year, making Pansy and herself upset. It wasn't a very fun ride, and Emmeline was more confused now than before. _He must be caught up with the death eaters_, she thought sadly. She remembered the kiss he gave her in late summer and knew that she could never be with someone serving Voldemort, ever.

Then they headed up to the castle, the welcoming feast great as usual. Many of the students were shocked to hear that Snape would be teaching Defense. She herself was a little surprised, but she clapped politely.

One of the most exciting things about being back, however, was the new room set up. The Slytherin dorms rooms were set up and changed over time, and for sixth and seventh years, they got small flats. It would consist of a small living space with some desks, and then four separate, small bedrooms. In their flat would be Emmeline, Pansy, Daphne, and Tracy. They had set up these flats long ago when students would get married young, while they were still in school. But now, the flats had moved to the girls' and boys' sides. It was a nice treat, especially having their own bathroom!

The next morning, Emmeline set up her schedule with Snape, making sure she had the required O.W.L.s for the NEWT courses. She had gotten many O's, so she was fine to take NEWT level Herbology, Charms, Potions, Defense, and Transfiguration, which was required to become a healer. She also decided to keep Muggle Studies, so she wouldn't have too many breaks.

In Defense Snape tried to teach them nonverbal spells. Emmeline was paired with Blaise, not managing to do anything too much. But Potions class was great, Slughorn had them brew a draught of the living dead to try to win a luck potion. Emmeline would love some luck but didn't manage to get her potion clear. It was stuck at a dark purple, like Hermione's. In the end, Harry managed to win in, much to Slughorn's delight.

Emmeline spent most of her time studying and doing homework, the teachers gave them so much. Nonverbal spells were now important in Charms and Transfiguration as well. It was not easy stuff.

Yet, Draco hadn't been completing his homework for very many classes. Emmeline heard him get scolded by McGonagall for his Transfiguration homework. He wasn't around much either, but Emmeline did find him sneaking through the castle occasionally on her patrols. They hadn't talked much since getting back to school, and certainly not why he had kissed her before the start of term. It didn't make any sense, and now he was back to locking lips, and more, apparently, with Pansy, after everything she did to him! Emmeline was confused, and a little hurt, to say the least. How could he be in love with her while fucking Pansy?

Another part of her studying was Apparation lessons. In a few short months she would be seventeen and could get her license. She would go down to Hogsmeade every other weekend, practicing with a few other sixth year students. There would be lessons given by the school later in the year, but Emmeline wanted to get them over with. She wasn't having too much trouble with it, but Apparation was dangerous, and she wanted to get it completely right. It was hard with all the stress from all of her classes.

Emmeline had a break from worrying and studying by attending dinners with the Slug Club. She sat in between Hermione and Blaise, trying to keep the peace between them. Somehow the dinners were fun, and the food was delicious, as well.

Also in attendance were Ginny, a boy who seemed very interested in Hermione, Cormac McClaggen, the Carrow twins, Melinda Bobbin, and occasionally Harry when he wasn't busy being Harry Potter. Emmeline didn't quite know why the Carrows were invited, they were quiet Slytherins who kind of creeped Emmeline out, if she was being honest. She also learned that Melinda Bobbin's family owned a large number of apothecaries in the UK, making her a prime candidate for the Slug Club.

It was apparent that Slughorn was a Slytherin when he attended Hogwarts, as his Slug Club was really just a collection of famous, gifted, charming, or rich people that he could benefit from knowing in the future. However, it was nice to also have those connections as well, so Emmeline stuck around.

Her other breaks involved Quidditch. Not only had Draco not been completing his homework, but he had also quit the Slytherin Quidditch team. When asked why, he shrugged and said he had more important things to do. Emmeline was furious, because, in addition to this, Vaisey, one of the other chasers, took a bludger at practice. Their captain was not happy either, appointing Harper, who was a year younger than her, as the replacement.

Their first game was against Gryffindor, as usual. Emmeline hoped that Ron would go back to being bad, but sadly, she couldn't score on him, no matter how hard she tried. But then, they were only down by 100... Harper almost had the snitch! But then Harry said something to him, making his fingers slip, and Harry snatched it himself. Emmeline was disappointed, she didn't play her best either. Their captain was very mad at them of course, no matter the unlucky circumstances.

The next week, however, was much better. Emmeline had turned seventeen! She was a full-fledged witch, now able to use magic outside of Hogwarts. She had a small party in her flat with her girlfriends, drinking butterbeer, listening to music, and talking about all sorts of happy things. They had gotten her a bottle of firewhiskey somehow as a gift, since she could legally drink it now. Technically, they weren't supposed to drink it in the school, but Emmeline paused her prefect duties for one night to have some fun. They played several drinking games and Emmeline learned more about her friends than she really wanted to know.

Later in the night, when all four girls were thoroughly wasted, they started playing truth or dare. The empty firewhiskey bottle was being spun to pick which witch would have to tell the truth or do a dare. The first time the bottle landed on Emmeline, she picked truth, which was asked by Pansy.

"Emmy! Tell us how far you've gone with a guy," Pansy giggled, her and the other girls looking at her expectantly.

Emmeline blushed. "Well, last year Anthony and I got pretty touchy, but I never let him go further than putting his hands on my bum." She admitted.

"Em, you're such a prude!" Pansy teased, but Emmeline felt a pang of sadness knowing how far Pansy has gone.

"Don't be mean Pans! I've barely done anything," Tracy sighed. "Emmeline is lucky so many boys like her."

"Tracy, you just have to wait for the right guy!" Emmeline reassured the girl.

All of a sudden, Daphne started to giggle. "I have something to tell you guys!" They looked at the giggling girl, waiting for an answer. "Last week Blaise and I were studying together, and he kissed me in the library!" The other three girls shrieked in excitement, and Emmeline spun the bottle, using a little magic so it could land on Daphne.

The girl giggled more. "Okay, dare me!" That was just what Emmeline hoped for. "Daph, I dare you to go to Blaise's room right now and asked for a kiss!" The rest of the girls shrieked again, and Emmeline vaguely realized they were all in their pajama's, which were a little revealing. However, the girl got up to go do her dare, and the rest of the girls followed her, a little bit behind. Luckily, the common room was empty this time of night.

After some stumbling, Daphne arrived at Blaise's door and knocked quietly, calling out the boy's name as well. A minute later, both Blaise and Draco appeared at the door, bleary eyed and confused.

"Daphne? What's going on, are you okay?" Blaise inquired.

"I'm here on a… A… Dare!" Daphne finally got out. Blaise's eyes widened, realizing the girl was very drunk. Draco peered out into the hallway, seeing the other girls giggling at the end of the hall. Emmeline had gracefully fallen on the floor when laughing, and her nightgown and hiked up quite a bit. "I'm here to ask you to kiss me!"

Blaise smirked. "Alright," he replied, pulling the girl into his room.

Pansy was laughing so hard behind Emmeline for no apparent reason. "Gonna… Pee.. Pants!" she got out, dragging Tracy back towards their room, most likely to go to the bathroom. Emmeline realized the room was spinning and called out to Draco for help up.

He slowly walked over, his eyes roaming over her mostly bear legs. Emmeline blushed. He picked her up easily. "Can you walk?" he asked. Emmeline nodded, but halfway back to the room she felt herself getting dizzy again.

"Sorry, Draco, I need to sit." She crawled onto the window seat, resting her head on the glass that separated them from the Black Lake. Draco stood awkwardly behind her. "Won't you sit with me?" Emmeline said, patting the seat next to her. After a few seconds he sat, leaving some distance between them.

"Why are you drunk?" He snarled. "I don't have time-"

"It's my birthday, but I guess you don't remember that kinda stuff anymore." Emmeline replied sadly.

Draco's face fell. "Oh, well, happy birthday, Em. I'm sorry I didn't get you anything."

Emmeline was surprised he apologized for something. "Just sit here with me for a minute, and let's pretend like we're kids again. That we don't fight." She reached over to take his hand, which he rubbed slow circles on the back of with his thumb. Emmeline felt herself getting tired, and before she fell asleep, she saw the first actual smile she had seen on Draco's face in a long time. That was really her gift.

The next morning, she woke up in her bed, not really remembering how she got there. The other girls and she got ready slowly and all day in class, all four girls had the biggest hang overs. She felt, however, it was worth it. She felt like she hadn't laughed that hard or felt that happy in a long time in a long time.

The next big occurrence was Slughorn's Christmas party. Emmeline's mother had sent her a beautiful new dress for the party, Christmas red.

But Emmeline didn't have a date. In the end she figured she would go with Blaise, who was going to the party anyway, but of course just as friends. Blaise and Daphne were now officially dating after their half-drunk snogging session in Blaise's room. At the party, Emmeline was having a drink, talking with some Hufflepuffs, when Draco was pulled into the room by Filch, holding onto his ear. He claimed to be trying to gatecrash the party, but Emmeline knew he must have been doing his task. He looked tired, almost sick; Emmeline had barley seen him the last few weeks. He was taken outside by Snape.

She waited a few seconds, then excused herself to the bathroom. Outside Slughorn's office, making sure the coast was clear, she transformed herself into her Animagus form. She heard someone gasp, but no one was around, as far as she could see. Quickly, she fluttered down the hall, finally hearing their voices in the last classroom. She settled herself on the door handle, listening in.

Apparently, Snape had made an unbreakable vow with Mrs. Malfoy to help Draco with his task, but Emmeline didn't find out what this task was. But it did sound like Draco was very alone and very in trouble. She wanted to help him, if she could.

The next day she went home for Christmas break. While she was home, she decided that she would take her Apparation test, since the Department of Transportation was going to be administering it over this break and wouldn't be for a few more months after that.

Emmeline had slightly more free time during this holiday, since there would be no Malfoy Christmas party this year. They had received no invitation by owl nor any other method of sending. Mrs. Malfoy had also stopped her weekly lunch with Mrs. Avery, much to her mother's dislike. She was getting a lot of information from Narcissa that she could give to the Order, but nothing really spectacular. Emmeline knew whoever found out Draco was leaving the Manor in the summer wouldn't make for a good Christmas party guest.

So instead, Emmeline flooed into the Ministry of Magic, traveling with her father to the Department of Transportation. He was now familiar with the place, selling his father's old shop in Knockturn Alley and getting a desk job in the Dark Artifacts sector. Her mother was thrilled that he was helping people in his new job, and hot following in his father's footsteps. He quite liked his new job, and it came in handy getting his daughter to her test quickly. They examined her wand, hazel wood with phoenix feather core, 13 1/4 inches in length. Then, she was escorted to the test center.

Everyone taking the test grabbed onto a portkey created by the instructor. Her father stayed behind, while the testees ended up in a field out in the countryside. They were to travel a few miles away, which they were shown earlier, so they could imagine it clearly. She was the second one to go, since they would be tested alphabetically. A little nervous, she prepared herself to apparate. She thought hard of the spot she was going to, concentrated hard. With a _pop! _she was gone. When she opened her eyes, she was in the right spot, standing in the center of large X painted on the ground

"Congratulations!" The examiner said, handing her a license. Emmeline was thrilled, now apparating back to the Ministry to tell her father the good news.

They had a small Christmas dinner, just the three of them. It was still nice, however, and Emmeline got a large pile of gifts, as usual. She thought maybe one day she could sell all her gifts she didn't need and go on vacation. Once the Dark Lord was gone, of course.

When she got back to school, there were notices about Apparation lessons. She was glad that hers were over with, and now she could focus more on her studies Additionally, she used the time to do some snooping. She knew Draco would be gone for a whole hour when the lessons were going on, and there was no protection against girls entering the boy's side of the dorms...

She transformed into her butterfly form, squeezing under the bottom of the door to Draco's room easily on a day when everyone in his flat were gone for the Apparation lessons. She knew his was the second door on the left due to the Malfoy name plate, the room belonging to the family throughout the generations they attended Hogwarts. She snuck under this door as well. There, double checking no one was in there, she transformed back. She had to be quick, so she started searching right away. Emmeline didn't find anything in his dresser drawers or cabinets, blushing a little as she searched in his underthings drawer. Finally, she got on the floor to look under his bed. There was a small, silver box underneath with the Malfoy crest and moto: Purity always wins.

With a shaky hand, Emmeline pulled the box out, finding it unlocked. Inside were letters and a small journal. She opened the most recent letter on top, from his mother. She was begging him to take Snape's help, anyone's help. To be careful. Her letter seemed to be about the task but didn't provide any details of the task itself. His journal didn't provide any more information. But then, she heard voices in the hall, she didn't have time to put the lid back on right. She shoved it, messily, under the bed and transformed into her butterfly form, hiding under the bed as well. No more than a few seconds later, Draco came back on, looking flushed and angry. To her surprise, he sat on his bed, tears in his eyes.

"I can't do this... But... He'll kill me if I don't..." He mumbled. Emmeline took the chance to escape, almost getting stepped on by Goyle in their common space. Then she flew back to her room, low to the ground, transforming when she was safe to.

She no longer wanted to help him, she needed to help him. Even though they weren't as good of friends anymore, she wouldn't let Draco be killed.

She got the chance to see Draco after the next Quidditch match, which Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. Ron had been poisoned earlier and was still recovering in the hospital wing, so the really annoying Gryffindor had to play keeper. He lost the game spectacularly for them, which Emmeline's housemates loved. Emmeline entered the castle after most of the students, as she stayed outside for a moment to clear her head. Draco didn't show up to the match but seemed to be coming back from somewhere with two girls Emmeline had never seen before. Once Draco saw her, he sent the girls off. For some reason, Emmeline was very hurt.

"Having threesomes with random girls now, Draco?" _I thought you loved me_, she thought, a little mockingly. The girls were too young for that, but she was upset and confused, making her lash out.

He looked weary, like he hadn't slept in days. "Come with me," he asked her, pleadingly. "Please," he added, after seeing her apprehensive look. Draco didn't say please much.

So, she followed him to an empty classroom, where he pulled her close to him. She was shocked, as she didn't think he wanted much to do with her. However, he said: "Emmeline, I want to be with you. Once my task is done, once this is all over." He stroked her face softly.

"Draco, please, can I help you in any way? I want you to be okay," Emmeline asked, looking into his stormy grey eyes that were filled with worry.

"I can't involve you; I don't want you to get hurt. But just seeing you, being like this helps me," he responded sadly.

"Draco, I'm not a little girl, I can help-"

He cut her off by kissing her, for a much longer time than he did last time. She wanted to pull away, ask more questions, but kissing him just felt so right. Finally, he pulled away. "No, Em. Just please be here for me when you can." Right after saying this, he left, leaving her with more questions than before, and making still making her, very, very confused.

This seemed to be similar to the rest of their encounters. He would come back from wherever he had been sneaking off too, and she would somehow end up meeting him in an empty corridor. He would kiss her, snog her, put his hands in her hair. He would whisper that he was afraid and all he wanted to do was be with her. But then he would disappear again. She couldn't believe that she was snogging Draco... She didn't even know his and Pansy's relationship status at the moment, but they hadn't been talking much lately, so she hoped she wasn't betraying her friend. She knew that Pansy and Draco would have never worked out in the long run, so hopefully everything would be okay.

Draco and Emmeline had barely talked for the last few years, but something changed when he showed up at her house this summer. She understood him more now than she ever did before. Something was going on with him, something dark, and she was the person he came to. She was in love with the broken boy, she realized it now. Thinking back on everything they had been through the past few years, they had both changed. His task now was changing him even more, but Emmeline hoped that in the end it would change him for the better. And comforting him in empty classrooms was helping him, she would gladly do it. Maybe he just needed to know that someone was there for him to become a better person.

All of this going on with Draco was stressing her out, and all Emmeline had to distract her was Quidditch. This wasn't a very nice distraction, however, considering their team was horrible. They still had a chance to come in third if Gryffindor lost spectacularly to Ravenclaw, but Emmeline wasn't keeping her hopes up.

Sure as ever, even with Harry in detention, Gryffindor had won the game spectacularly. Ron saved more goals than ever, and with Katie Bell back, they scored more points than ever. And finally, to end it, Ginny waited until they were up by enough to catch the Snitch, sealing Gryffindor's victory and Slytherins very disappointing loss.

That day, Emmeline didn't have enough time to talk to Draco, as he was always somewhere else. She wanted to ask about him and Pansy, but it had seemed that Pansy and he had a great big argument about something, and Draco had vowed to never get back together with her. This was alright with Emmeline, but she pretended to console the girl. Pansy had said that Draco told her to move on, as he only dated her because the person he wanted to date was always taken. Pansy was in tears for a week after this. _Oh, Draco, _she thought, _That was pretty insensitive. _But it also made sense why he had been dating Pansy all these years if he did actually love her.

At last, the weather was getting nicer, so Emmeline could spend more time outside. Studying and doing homework outside helped her to think better, but she wished that Draco could be outside with her. She hoped that when the war was over, they could actually be together. However, she was slowly starting to realize that her and Draco would most likely be on opposite sides of the upcoming war.

Because of these thoughts and more, she wasn't sleeping well. She was worried about Draco, making her toss and turn at night. Multiple times she snuck into his room again, many times finding him crying. She really wanted to know what his task was, and she hoped it would be over very soon. Emmeline believed from seeing him crying that Draco was not an evil person, just a boy in a bad situation. Maybe one day she would be able to help him switch sides.

She found out in not too long about his task in not too long. The gold coin she still carried around with her from the D.A. got warm in her pocket, telling her to patrol the corridors, look out for anything bad happening. Soon after, there were lots of bad things happening; Draco had set the death eaters loose in the school. There was a battle going on in Hogwarts, Emmeline and Luna fighting together once again against a masked death eater. Luna, Neville, and Emmeline seemed to be the only ones besides Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to answer the distress call. There was so much going on, spells flying everywhere...

She saw the familiar flash of blond hair go by, being pulled by Snape... Emmeline desperately wanted to follow, tell him the Order could protect him... But he was with Snape, who was in the Order. She had to trust that Snape would keep him safe, as she was in a battle for her own life, she didn't have much time to give that thought.

As quickly as they came, the death eaters fled, leaving everyone in various stages of injury and panic. Students came out of their rooms in dressing gowns, wanting to know what was going on. Everyone felt that something bad had happened, that someone must be dead...

Emmeline and the rest were rushed up the hospital wing on Professor McGonagall's orders. Emmeline had a nasty gash on her forearm from a piece of brick that hit her arm but was otherwise fine. She healed it herself before helping other. As far as Emmeline knew, none of who were fighting on their side had gotten killed. The oldest Weasley brother, Bill, took a bad hit and scratches from Greyback, but he was going to be alright.

Emmeline was physically alright now, but she couldn't stop crying. She wasn't sobbing, just silent tears constantly running down her face. Especially when Harry told them what happened, how Dumbledore was dead, and Snape had been the one to kill him. Emmeline felt that Draco wasn't safe after all, and not knowing where he was now made her feel even worse.

She felt like she was intruding when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came into the hospital wing, and especially when everyone started confessing their love to one another. Eventually Hermione and Ginny came and sat on her bed, handing her tissues when she needed them. Eventually she went down to her room, after a drought of peace from Madam Pince. As she laid in bed trying to fall asleep that night, she imagined that she back in Draco's arms, somewhere far away from Hogwarts and the war.

The next day, before they went home, was Dumbledore's funeral. Leaving the Slytherins, she caught up to Luna and sat with her. Her Slytherin friends did not understand like this strange girl did about the battle they were in, what danger they were all in. She wasn't sure they would ever understand. The funeral was massive, people coming from all over the world to pay their respects to Dumbledore. Even the merpeople and centaurs came, peering out of the lake and forest.

Emmeline sat with Luna and other members of the D.A. on the ride home too. She would no longer hide and pretend that it was alright to sit on the same compartment as Pansy and Crabble and Goyle. She wanted to do something, but she wasn't sure what. Something to help stop Voldemort, and get Draco back to her, safe.


	7. Year 7

** Year 7 **

Emmeline knew she would have to go back to Hogwarts. It wasn't necessarily safe anywhere, but she and her parents hoped that the teachers would have some extra protection on the castle.

Before this, however, they were invited to the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur who was in the tri-wizard tournament. Her parents had become very close to the Weasley's since joining the Order of Phoenix. She got a nice purple dress for the party with matching shoes.

The wedding was beautiful, and she was able to hang out with Ginny and Hermione a lot. She didn't see any of her friends up until this point in the summer, as her and her family barely left their house with Voldemort on the loose. This helped Emmeline's horrible mood a bit, which stemmed from not hearing anything from or about Draco. Where last summer he would show up at her house almost every day, she didn't even get an owl from him this summer. She knew that he must be right in the middle of it all, and she desperately wanted him safe, with her.

At one point in the night, she found herself dancing with Ron, more out of politeness than anything else. She had also danced with the two Weasley twins, who both made her laugh, much more than she had been doing recently. During her dance with Ron, however, he always seemed to be looking away from Emmeline. Finally, once during a spin, he realized who she was looking at.

"You like Hermione!" She whispered excitedly. Ron almost missed the next step, his eyes widening and actually looking at her.

"I… Uh-"

"She does look great tonight. Did you dance with her yet?" Emmeline asked. Hermione was in a beautiful dress and her hair had considerably flattened over the past year, making the girl even more attractive. Ron latterly couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"N-No, I didn't-"

"Well go on then! You obviously don't want to dance with me!" She gave him a small shove, towards the direction of the smart and beautiful girl. Emmeline then took a seat next to Ginny, who was making eyes at Harry across the room.

Emmeline moaned, making the girl look over at her instead. "Is everyone near the ones they love?"

Ginny sighed, but also looked slightly confused. "Well, I think I might not see Harry much this year. But who are you so down about?"

Emmeline laid her head on her arms on the table. She wasn't sure what Ginny, or anyone's reaction would be to her and Draco. But then again, Emmeline wasn't even sure they would be together once this war was over. But Ginny rested a hand on her arm comfortingly.

"You can tell me, Em."

Emmeline sighed. "It's pretty crazy." So, she told Ginny everything that had happened with Malfoy last year. She quickly had to start the story over when Hermione got back from her dance with Ron. The blush on her face faded as Emmeline told her story, replaced with a thoughtful expression.

Emmeline finished recounting the past year. "And now I don't know anything. I know he let the death eaters into Hogwarts, but I think they were threatening him and his family. He didn't want to it, he's not… He's not evil." She said the last part with confidence. "I just want him away from it all, and I know he could be a better person if he was. If he was with me."

The two other girls looked at each other. There was a pause, the sounds of the party filling Emmeline's ears. Finally, Hermione offered her some wisdom.

"I mean, we know from experience that Malfoy has had to follow in his father's footsteps. We didn't know him as well as you have all these years, but you are a god person, Em. So if you think that he can be changed, you would know best," the brunette girl finished with a small smile. Ginny nodded in agreement. Emmeline felt much better after telling her friends her struggles. For the rest of the party, Emmeline danced with a few more people and sampled several of the desserts. But this peace didn't last for long.

At the end of the wedding, they got a warning. The Ministry had fallen. She did see Draco then, she was sure, when the death eaters came in. She would recognize those grey-silver eyes anywhere, just before her parents grabbed her and they Apparated home.

At least, she thought, he was alive. But why was he still with the death eaters?

Snape had been appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts, and a brother and sister pair, that her parents were sure were death eaters, were appointed as the new Defense teacher and the new Muggle Studies teacher. Emmeline was shocked to hear the news that Professor Babbage was missing, she was sure it was because of Voldemort.

There were less people than ever on the train. She sat in a compartment with Ginny, Neville, and Luna, worried about what was to come. From the Daily Prophet, she knew that all young British boys and girls were now required to come to Hogwarts. Even worse, they would have to show proof of their blood status. She didn't understand why, but she knew it wasn't good. If she was being honest, she was terrified for herself and everyone she cared about.

The entire climate at the school had changed. Emmeline wasn't learning anything in her classes, she was busy trying to survive. Punishments included the pain curse and many other dark spells. Half-bloods were being punished for no other reason than they were born. Emmeline often was punished for speaking out or trying to help others. The Carrows often left punishments to the older Slytherins, who by now, knew how to give the curse without inflicting any pain. Their victims would scream with no harm done. This had, of course, it's exceptions, like Crabble and Goyle, who enjoyed making others feel intense pain.

Ginny, Neville, and Luna tried to get the D.A. up and running again. It was not easy, as Snape had the whole school under watch constantly and all clubs were banned. Emmeline wasn't sure why Snape was acting the way he was. She knew that he was secretly part of the Order, but he was acting like he was a death eater. He must have been trying to trick Voldemort, she realized eventually.

The other teachers were afraid as well. People all over the county, wizard and not, were being killed by You-Know-Who. Emmeline listened to the radio show "Potterwatch" as much as she could, in the confines of her bedroom. There, she was sure, she would hear if anything happened to her loved ones. But as the months stretched on, no Avery or Malfoy was pronounced dead.

Draco came back to school halfway through the term. People treated him wearily, as they knew that he had something to do with the events at the end of last year, but also saw that Emmeline was with him all the time. She asked him as many questions as she could, but he was shaken up, not talking much. From what she did get out of him, the Dark Lord and all of the death eaters were living in his house. Draco and his family had been punished heavily for anything Voldemort deemed a failure. His mother had begged Voldemort to let Draco go back to school and eventually he let him go. Emmeline was thrilled to have Draco with her but was worried about his health.

Sometimes at night he would sit in the common room with the most blank stares on his face. Emmeline would sit next to him, holding his hand when possible. He wasn't his normal self, and Emmeline thought that it wasn't right for him to be caught up in his family's mess. She was sure that the pain curses had taken their toll on him. He didn't seem to be eating much either, so Emmeline started leaving food outside his door at night she had taken from dinner. In the morning it was gone, so she could only hope be was eating it.

One day, maybe stupidly, she decided to use her Animagus form to go into his room. Emmeline wanted to help Draco get better, but he often locked himself in his room after class and meals. She crawled under the doors again, and flitted around him, and then transformed back so she was standing in front of him. His eyes widened, the first real emotion she had seen on his face in a long time.

"Em, you are an Animagus?" He asked, surprise evident in his voice.

She smiled, tossing her hair out of her face. "Since third year!" She turned back into her butterfly form, flying around Draco and briefly landing on his finger before turning back. Emmeline sat with him on his bed and he gave a small smile.

"You are truly amazing," he whispered, before kissing her.

That night, she slept in his room, which she was sure against the rules, but no one was really able to stop her. They both were a little shy about the whole ordeal, especially since the bed was very small. She laid on his chest and was surprised how quickly he fell asleep. Emmeline wasn't far behind.

In the morning, she woke up to Draco playing with her long, dark locks. "That's the first night I haven't had any nightmares," he admitted quietly.

She smiled up at him. "I'm so glad I could help," she said, before leaning up to kiss him. After a few minutes of this, she left to go get ready for classes. She glanced back at Draco before she left, the boy looking more at peace than she had seen him in a long time.

For the next week, Emmeline kept sneaking into sleep with Draco and he seemed to be getting better. He was eating more and even answered questions in class. Physically, the bags under his eyes were disappearing and his skin was gaining color back. Emmeline knew he had changed more than that though, as he was no longer the spoiled little boy who wanted everything. Now, he even helped younger students, no matter what their blood status with homework and if they were being bullied. He had done a complete turnaround from who he was before. He was trying to protect those from being harmed and punished, even once taking a Crucios for a first year. Emmeline thought that he was trying to make up for all the bad things he had done.

Everything at Hogwarts had officially changed. Emmeline met with others from the D.A. to practice office and defensive spells, as she had a sinking feeling that she would need to know the spells intimately for the near future.

News came that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had broken into the wizard bank, Gringotts. Emmeline thought it impossible, but of course not for those three. She knew they must have been trying to get something to stop Voldemort. She hoped they could accomplish that soon, because things were getting worse and worse at the school. Emmeline decided for her own safety she would have to leave. Yet, not long after she decided on this, her D.A. coin got warm in her pocket once again. It had been weeks, but she was thrilled to have a message. The Room of Requirement was open again, for all D.A. members.

Originally, being a pureblood saved her from punishment, but she refused to use curses on the younger students and the Carrows didn't treat her kindly after that. Draco was highly upset that she had to hide and go away from him, but he understood. Emmeline had too many bruises and scrapes on her body from punishments. He cared more about having her safe. He would stay in the dorms to protect the younger Slytherins, and Emmeline promised that she would sneak out to visit him as soon as she could. She left the common room to head up to the seventh floor, but not before a long, promising kiss goodbye.

Many of her other D.A. members were there, they had all just arrived. The room provided hammocks for them to sleep in and extra clothes. It was soon apparent; however, the room couldn't produce food for them to eat. She sat with Neville once she got there, speaking to him for the first time in a while.

"Emmeline, we are going to need food, a lot of it..." Neville said. No later than the words left his mouth, a painting appeared on the wall. In the paining seemed an empty path, but eventually a young girl came down, and the painting swung open. Emmeline and Neville looked at each other and then quickly climbed a newly appeared ladder up to the hole in the wall behind the painting. The path came out in the Hogshead Pub in Hogsmeade, where they held their first D.A. meeting. Aberforth, the owner, was wonderful, giving them everything they needed. Emmeline was glad to escape the madness of school, but she was itching to help as well. After doing her best to heal everyone's injuries, she had her chance.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione came into the school through the secret passageway. They said they needed to find something, but they learned soon after that Voldemort was on his way to the school. Emmeline knew she would need to fight. A little while later, her parents showed up with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix. The school assembled in the Great Hall, Emmeline choosing to stand with her parents rather than sit at the Slytherin table. When the students evacuated, none of her house stayed. They gave her wary looks on the way out but didn't say anything. Even Draco left, but he gave her a weary smile on the way out. She figured that he didn't want to fight his parents, but her heart still gave a little pang of disappointment seeing him leave.

Then the battle had begun. She fought beside her fellow D.A. members and her family, throwing as many spells at Death Eaters as she could. She had never seen her parents do so much magic, it was incredibly awe inspiring. She channeled her anger, her fear, and most of all her hope into her magic, taking down as many of her enemies as she could.

During the fight she saw Draco. He was pleading with another Death Eater that he was on his side... But just minutes earlier she was pretty sure she saw him fire some discreet spells from his wand at one Death Eater. Their eyes made contact across the room, but it was hardly time for a happy reunion. Before they could go to each other, he got pushed out of the way, and she didn't see him during the rest of the fighting. However, she was happy he was here, fighting, even though she was also worried for his safety.

At last, the fighting stopped. Emmeline and her parents sustained several minor injuries, but nothing that couldn't be healed quickly. Voldemort wanted Harry, so he called back his death eaters and gave them one hour to treat their injured and collect their dead. Emmeline rushed to the Great Hall to help as many as she could, finding the many people who she would never see alive again. One of the Weasley twins, Fred, was surrounded by his family, dead on the floor of his old school. Emmeline shed her first tear, remembering all the times she laughed at his and George's pranks. Also in the line of deceased was her old teacher, Professor Lupin, and his wife. With tears in her eyes, Emmeline healed as many wounds as she could, rushing around to countless people. Draco was nowhere to be found, but even as the last of the dead were carried in, she didn't spot his bright, blond hair.

Everything after that had happened very fast. When they were healing injuries and collecting the dead, Harry had disappeared. She learned later that he went to the forest where Voldemort and the death eaters were, ready to die to save everyone else. Harry was dead, but then alive again, because he was the final horcrux. The battle was fought after this, Bellatrix being killed by Molly Weasley and Neville killing Voldemort's snake with the sword of Gryffindor. This finally allowed for Harry to have one last duel with the monster, finally ending the war for good. Voldemort was finally dead. Yet, Emmeline couldn't feel happy yet. There were too many bodies littering the school. It was too much for her brain to comprehend at once, as it passed by much too quickly.

In the end, the Malfoy's just wanted to find their son. They didn't fight in the battle alongside Voldemort and they sat in the Great Hall with everyone else when the battle was finally over. Emmeline and her family came in after the Malfoy's did. Draco and Emmeline immediately locked eyes across the hall, and she took off at a sprint towards him, using the last bit of her strength. He quickly stood up to meet her, but to her surprise he didn't outstretch his arms when she came close, but fell to his knees instead.

"Emmeline, I'm so sorry, for everything I've done..." He spoke up to her. Emmeline knew that he meant _everything _he had done over the years, being a right git, taking advantage of others, and most of all aligning himself with the wrong, the dark side, for so long. He wanted someone to forgive him. Emmeline knew it must be killing him to show himself like this in front of everyone. She pulled him up, and making him look at her, pulled him into a kiss. Both of their fathers looked surprised, but their mothers shared a knowing look.

"Draco, when we are out of here, let's meet and figure everything out, okay? Let's finally be together," Emmeline said, with her first smile all day.


	8. Post-Hogwarts

** Post-Hogwarts  **

They did indeed meet up, a few weeks later, in Diagon Alley. As soon as Emmeline saw that blond head of hair, she ran towards him and tackled him in a hug. He looked so much different now, at ease with himself and mostly healed from the war. They went to a restaurant that has just recently reopened and got a table outside, taking in the happiness and peacefulness of everyone going by.

The rest of the alley, and Great Britain, was in the process of rebuilding. Many were still mourning the loved ones they lost, but overall things were much better again. As Emmeline gazed into the grey-silver eyes in front of her, she knew that everything would be okay in the near future.

"Emmeline," Draco said, as he took her hand in his across the table. "I'm so happy to see you again." His features were no longer strained, and a real smile formed easily on his face.

"Me too!" She beamed. "I was a little worried not hearing from you the last two weeks-"

"I know, I'm sorry." Draco frowned. "They have my mother and father on house arrest, but one of the aurors saw me fighting a death eater during the battle and decided I could leave the house until my trial. He said that they most likely won't charge me with anything, but you never know." He shrugged.

"Draco, you are truly sorry for everything you've done. They will take this into account, as well as your situation. You are a much different person than you were before. And I want to be with this new person." Emmeline squeezed his hand, only letting go because their food arrived.

He thanked the waitress, slightly blushing from Emmeline's words. "You really want to be with me, after everything I've done?" he whispered.

She firmly nodded. "Of course, Draco. I forgave you that day in the Great Hall and I- I love you, you know?"

He smiled and his shoulders sagged in relief. "I love you too." The two dug into their food and started to figure out where they would go from there.

Them figuring things out consisted of buying a Muggle flat close to the entrance of the hospital, with the help of Hermione to make sure they were getting a good deal. Draco's father would be going to Azkaban and his mother was busy redecorating the entire house. She did insist, however, if they had to move into somewhere that wasn't the Manor, they would come for dinner once a week. Draco couldn't stand to live in his childhood home after the events that had taken place their and it was much easier for Emmeline to walk to work than travel from the Chateau.

Draco and Emmeline settled down into their new place, taking their new relationship slowly. Emmeline started her healer studies at St. Mungo's, so she was busy with that most days. Yet, Draco supported her in following her dreams and promised he would find something to do soon. While neither of them needed to work financially, Draco was getting bored sitting in their flat all day. He ended up in the extra bedroom of their apartment, making potions for all sorts of people at a very cheap sale price, so many people could afford it. He had never seemed happier, greeting Emmeline at the door with hugs and kisses when she came home from her training. He was the Draco that she knew he was deep down, and finally, he was hers and she was his.

They made things official not long after moving into their apartment. One Friday, after a long day of training, she came back to the flat to find Draco dressed up in robes and a new dress laying on the sofa.

She smiled wide at the scene. "What's all this?"

"I'm taking you out to dinner!" He announced with a wink. "A new place opened in Diagon, get ready quick, our reservation is for six."

She gladly took the gorgeous gown and made her way to the bathroom to change and fix her haggard, after work appearance. The training program she was in was very hard most days, and Emmeline was so glad to have small surprises like this from Draco. After fixing her hair and applying some makeup, Emmeline changed into her new dress, very happy with her appearance. Especially when she came out of the bathroom and Draco gave a low whistle seeing her. He held out his hand and made Emmeline do a little twirl, making her laugh.

"Ready to go, my love?"

"With you? Anywhere."

The pair apparated to the restaurant, which was as fancy as she imagined it to be. She ordered the steak with a side of vegetables, already glancing at the desserts too. She was starving after her shift at the hospital. Draco also ordered each one of them a glass of champagne.

"Are we celebrating something?" she inquired, looking at Draco's strange look. Was this nervousness she was seeing?

"Hopefully," he responded, but then quickly shifted the conversation. "How was your training today, my love?"

Emmeline launched into a story about a wizard couple who arrived at the hospital, who tried to bring some magic into the bedroom. Things didn't end well, as the man's penis was now ten times the size it was before. Draco laughed at her story and then the drinks arrived.

She picked up the glass and was about to take a sip until she noticed something was at the bottom of her glass. Something _shiny _was at the bottom of her glass-

Draco swiftly grabbed the glass from her hand and fished out a beautiful diamond ring with a fork before getting down on the ground on one knee. Emmeline's hand flew to cover her open mouth and several other patrons stopped eating to look at the proposal.

"Emmeline Estelle Avery, would you please do me the pleasure of becoming my wife?"

She couldn't find the words, just nodding her head up and down. Draco smiled. "Em, I kind of need a verbal _yes _or _no _here."

Emmeline laughed. "Of course I'm saying yes, you git!" Draco quickly stood up and placed the beautiful ring on her finger before swinging her around. The other patrons clapped politely, many of them older couples reminiscing on their own engagements. Finally, the couple sat down, and Emmeline admired her new favorite piece of jewelry.

"I hope this isn't to quick," Draco asked, looking a little sheepish. "I just want you to be mine. Officially."

She placed her hand on his face and replied, "I will be yours, forever." They shared a kiss across the table, and soon after their food arrived.

The food was delicious at this new restaurant, which Emmeline knew they would have to come back to soon. She was reaching for the dessert menu when Draco placed a light hand on her arm.

"What do you say we have dessert at home?" He whispered, with another nervous smile.

_At home…? _She thought. Finally, she blushed realizing what he meant. He raked his eyes up and down her in the dress he bought her, evidently happy with his purchase. "Let's go," she quickly decided. Draco left a bag of galleons on the table she knew was way too much to cover the bill, but they were eager to get home.

They apparated back to the apartment, going inside quickly. Draco went to the coat rack, taking off his suit jacket. Emmeline approached him slowly when he turned around, running her hands lightly through his fine, very blond hair. He placed one hand on her cheek, stroking it, and one softly on her hip. Their lips met, Emmeline tilting her head up to meet him. It started slow but then sped up quick, hands exploring all over their bodies. It was much more than they had done in the old classroom at Hogwarts, by far.

"Draco-" Emmeline pulled back quickly from their kiss, Draco giving a small whimper when her lips disappeared from his. "Are you sure this is okay? I know the… The last time you…"

He nodded, in understanding. "I want this, because its with you. Only you. My beautiful fiancé."

Soon after he consented to their "dessert", clothes started to hit the floor. Still intertwined and kissing, they moved their way into their bedroom. Emmeline had decorated it with the help of Narcissa, silver drapery, a green bed spread, and white bed curtains. They fell back onto the green, entangling themselves further. Draco quickly took out his wand to cast the contraceptive spell, and then they were back all over each other. They lasted late into the night, learning more about each other than every before. Emmeline was so happy her first time was with Draco and fell asleep on his chest feeling elated.

In addition to going to dinner with Narcissa once a week, Emmeline also visited Ginny as frequently. The girls had gotten close in the last year at Hogwarts. Ginny didn't return to school, instead taking a job to be the youngest member of the Hollyhead Harpies. She was living with Harry in Sirius's old house and their elf, Kretcher. Hermione and Ron would come over to visit too, often along with Neville and Luna. They had all started dating after the war, looking for love everything they had been through. Surprisingly enough, Hermione and Ron couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. Later Hermione had told Emmeline about their kiss during the battle, which finally started their long-awaited relationship.

Emmeline felt out of place at these dinners without Draco, as she was like a useless fifth or seventh wheel. She didn't know what to expect if she brought him to Grimmauld Place. He was a right prat to everyone who attended all his life, but he was different now. He had totally changed from his school days. Everyone had.

One week, she got home from work, hung her coat up, and decided she would ask him to come to dinner at Ginny and Harry's. Emmeline was turned around facing the wall to hang up the coat, and hands came from behind her and wrapped themselves around her. Lightly kisses were pressed into her shoulder.

"Welcome home, love," Draco purred. She smiled, loving the feeling of his warm body against hers. "I attempted to cook something, but I think I burnt it."

Walking into the kitchen, she saw a mess only he could have made littering the sink, counters, and even floors. This was her chance.

While she started on some household spells for cleaning that her mother taught her, she said, "Well we could just go over to Ginny and Harry's for dinner then!" She smiled his way.

Draco dropped the glass he was holding, making even more of a mess. Emmeline sighed, repairing it and putting it back in the now clean sink. "They wouldn't want me..." He started, frowning at their kitchen tile.

"They don't know the real you! This you! I'm sure they wouldn't mind you coming," she pleaded.

Draco thought about it for a bit, sitting at their kitchen table. "And what do I get out of this?" He asked.

She smirked, walking over to him and sitting on his lap. "I could try some knew wand work I've been practicing, but only if you go," she teased, running her hand on his upper thigh.

His eyes became a little darker from lust. After a few more seconds of her hand running closer and closer to his center but not actually touching it, he muttered "Fine!"

Within a few minutes, Emmeline's wand work was completed, Draco making yet another mess in the kitchen.

But finally, he would be coming with her to Grimmauld Place. Emmeline knew Luna and Neville wouldn't be there tonight, just Hermione and Ron, which made things easier.

Emmeline rang the doorbell, but instead of Ginny, who usually answered the door, Harry was there. The smile slipped from his face when he saw who accompanied her.

Draco stepped up to him and said, "I know I was a right prat all those years!" The words just seemed to flow out of him. Emmeline looked on in shock, she didn't expect Draco to say much tonight, nevertheless apologize. "I was hateful and mean and just plain evil, but she," indicating to Emmeline, "changed that. And I'm here today to... Apologize." He finished, quietly. Emmeline remembered after the trial Harry had gone right out the courtroom, not even looking at Draco during the trial.

Gratefully, Harry put out his hand. They shook hands, something Emmeline never thought she would see. The three went inside, which didn't go as well as it did on the doorstep.

"Why is he here!?" Ron yelled, pointing to Draco accusingly.

Hermione quickly tugged his arm down. "Ron! It's rude to point!" Ginny had come out of the kitchen, eyebrows shooting up seeing their blond guest. Harry was leaning against the wall at this point, like he was ready to watch the spectacle.

Ron tore his arm away from her grasp. "Rude!? How could I not be? I should be hexing him right now, after all the things he did to us! He let the death eaters into Hogwarts!"

Draco responded immediately. "Listen! I had to do the things my dad told me to, or else..." Draco didn't finish his thought, but they all knew what he meant. He was punished if he refused to do what his father wanted. "And then the Dark Lord came, he was under my roof! We would have all died if we resisted, if we didn't follow orders, we almost did... And I know, these things don't excuse me from my behavior all these years, but I'm sorry now, and that's what matters, right?" He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, messing up his usually put together look.

Everyone present nodded, and with instruction from Kretcher, sat down for dinner. The meal was quiet at first, but then Ginny started talking about Quidditch. Besides Hermione, everyone had a lot to say on the matter, and it seemed that Ginny and Draco liked bickering over which team would win the league this year. It was late into the night before they left, Draco shaking hands with Harry and Ron before leaving. At one point, he had the whole table roaring either laughter over a joke, and they could finally see the real Draco, her Draco.

"When's the next dinner?" He asked as they walked hand in hand to the little park to apparate home. Emmeline smiled, kissing him before they did. They hung up their things upon entering their apartment, Draco taking her hand again after and gently tugged her.

"I think I have some tricks I could show you too," he winked, leading her to the bedroom.

Draco and Emmeline waited a few years to get married, as his mother wanted them to get married in the Malfoy gardens but needed to finish all of the renovations first. Lucius was sentenced to Azkaban for life and would miss his only child's wedding.

Emmeline finished her healer training in a year and was now taking over for Madam Pomfry in the hospital wing. She was thrilled to go to work every day, especially since the injuries were now mostly based on quidditch and fooling around instead of death eaters and Voldemort. Additionally, Draco took up the empty position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He still had his potions business going but hired some people to watch the shop while he was gone. They had quarters at the school which they stayed in when school was in session but could use the floo to travel on weekends to their parents' houses and the Potter's house.

Finally in the summer, renovations were completed in the Manor. The gardens were in full bloom, making for a beautiful backdrop to the ceremony. Narcissa had invited well over three hundred guests, as well as a reporter and photographer from The Prophet. Emmeline had Ginny be her maid of honor and Hermione to be her bridesmaid. Draco selected Blaise to be his best man and Theo to be his groomsman. Emmeline wore a beautiful white wedding gown with countless butterfly details, a secret joke shared between a few of the people who attended. During the ceremony, Narcissa and Estelle wiped damp eyes and their friends smiled broadly from the front rows. It was everything Emmeline ever hoped for for her wedding.

The night of their wedding, Draco and Emmeline left by portkey to start their honeymoon in southern Italy. They spent the week relaxing on the beach, exploring small towns and ancient ruins, and shopping in big cities.

At night they would have delicious dinners and then retire to their hotel room for some more fun. One night after Emmeline and Draco has toughly enjoyed each other, Emmeline propped up on her elbow to look at her beloved husband.

"Draco?" She asked, tracing patterns on his bare chest with her other hand.

"Hmm?" He muttered with his eyes closed. He was exhausted after their day of travelling and what they had just done.

"Do you… Want to start having kids soon?" His eyes lazily opened. They had both agreed that they wanted to be parents, and now they were finally married.

He smiled. "I would love to, but let's figure out what to do with our jobs first, okay?"

Emmeline nodded. That was a good point, as they both lived in Hogwarts for a large chunk of the year.

After coming back from their honeymoon, they met with Headmaster McGonagall to see what could be done about expanding their family while working at Hogwarts.

The old witch smiled at the couple kindly. "This wouldn't actually be the first time this has happened, but it has been a while. I believe what happened before is that while you are working, we can hire a nanny to take care of your baby, or babies. We can also expand your room to include a nursery."

Emmeline and Draco thanked the witch profusely. Draco squeezed her hand under the table excitedly and the look he gave her said he was ready to try whenever she was ready.

Soon after, Draco and Emmeline had moved into a little bigger house for when they weren't at Hogwarts. They were expecting. Just a few months before they had gotten married in the Malfoy Manner gardens. They had stopped using the contraceptive charm, and not too long later, she was throwing up every morning. On one weekend they traveled to the pregnancy wing of St. Mungo's so Emmeline could get her checkup.

"Alright, lay down, mummy!" The kind witch said to her, as Emmeline climbed into the hospital bed. "It looks like you are about two months along! So, if you would like, we can do the spell to test for gender!"

Emmeline and Draco smiled at each other; hands intertwined. "We would love to!" They replied.

With a sweep of her wand, Emmeline's stomach glowed pink briefly, and then blue.

"What does that mean?" Draco asked, staring at her stomach like more colors still might show up.

The with smiled knowingly. "You are going to have twins!"

Sure enough, seven months later, Scorpius and Cassiopeia were born, healthy and adorable twins. Scorpius had a mop of light blond hair like his father, and Cassie dark hair like her mother.

Even after having a horrible father, Draco was an amazing one himself. They brought the babies to dinner when they could, as Draco's students loved to play with the happy twins.

A few years later, Emmeline gave birth to another babe, Orion. Ginny had also had her and Harry's third child, Lily. Ron and Hermione also had two children around the age of theirs. Emmeline hoped that their children could all be friends at Hogwarts, officially ending the feuding between the houses.

Emmeline was thrilled with the way her life turned out, surrounded by friends, family, and the love of her life. Every once in a while, she would turn into her butterfly form, and soar around the grounds of Hogwarts, joyful that she wouldn't need to worry anymore.

Fin.

2


End file.
